055 
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JOSEPH   ADDISON 


MACAULAY'S  ESSAY  ON 

J 

ADDISON 


EDITED  AND   ANNOTATED 

BY 

CHAELES  WALLACE  FRENCH 

PRINCIPAL   OF   THE   HYDE   PARK  HIGH   SCHOOL,   CHICAGO 


Kcto  gork 
THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON:  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Ltd. 

1905 

All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1899, 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up   and  electrotyped   November,   1898.      Reprinted  July, 
1899;  October,  1900;   February,  190a:  April.  1903;  January,  1905. 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


The  essay  contained  in  this  volume  forms  a  part  of 
the  course  prescribed  by  the  Joint  Committee  on  Eng- 
lish Eequirements  for  admission  to  college.  AVhile  it 
can  hardly  be  rated  as  the  greatest  of  Macaulay's 
essays,  there  are  few,  if  any,  Avhich  present  a  richer 
field  for  investigation  and  study.  The  student  will 
need  to  have  encyclopaedia  and  dictionaries  constantly 
at  hand,  and  even  then  he  will  probably  find  some 
allusions  ahd  references  which  will  bafile  his  most 
patient  effort. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  notes  the  fact  has  been 
recognized  that  many  students  must  take  up  this 
work  without  the  necessary  reference  books;  there- 
fore the  allusions  have  been  explained  much  more 
fully  than  would  otherwise  be  necessary. 

Where  it  is  possible,  the  student  should  not  depend 
on  the  notes  for  his  information,  but  should  look  up 
the  references  for  himself.  Much  interesting  infor- 
mation will  be  secured,  and  valuable  habits  of  inves- 
tigation will  be  formed  by  a  careful,  independentj  and 
exhaustive  study  of  this  masterpiece. 


2049710 


INTRODUCTION 


In  the  preparation  of  the  following  introductory 
matter  an  effort  has  been  made  to  present  only  that 
which  will  be  available  and  useful  to  the  average 
student.  Critical  analyses  and  discussions  have  been 
studiously  avoided- 

Generally  the  introduction  to  a  work  of  this  class 
is  carefully  skipped  by  students,  and  sometimes,  no 
doubt,  wisely.  Yet  there  is  a  certain  kind  and  amount 
of  introductory  work  which  needs  to  be  done  in  order 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  proper  study  of  any  author, 
and  it  is  hoped  that  the  following  pages  will  not 
altogether  fail  to  meet  this  necessity. 


'■'■  His  heart  was  pure  and  simple  as  a  child's 
Unbreathed  on  by  the  world  :  in  friendship  warm. 
Confiding,  generous,  constant ;  and  now 
He  ranks  among  the  great  ones  of  the  earth, 
And  hath  achieved  such  glory  as  will  last 
To  future  generations."  —  Moultrie. 
vli 


Till  INTRODUCTION 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH 

Thomas  Babingtox  Macaulay,  the  son  of  Zachary 
and  Selina  Mills  Macaulay,  was  born  at  Botliley 
Temple,  October  25,  1800.  His  father,  a  man  of  strict 
principles  and  stern  and  unyielding  integrity,  was 
associated  with  Wilberforce  in  his  anti-slavery  agita- 
tion, and  spent  the  larger  part  of  his  life  in  works  of 
charity  and  philanthropy. 

Young  Macaulay  was  a  child  of  such  marked  matu- 
rity of  thought  and  expression  that  he  became  noted 
among  the  friends  of  the  family  for  his  quaintness  and 
precocity,  yet  his  nature  was  so  frank  and  wholesome 
that  he  escaped  the  slightest  taint  of  priggishness. 
Those  qualities  of  person  and  mind  which  were  marked 
in  his  later  years  appeared  very  early  in  life  and 
developed  rapidly. 

"  Madame,  the  agony  has  already  begun  to  abate,^' 
was  the  answer  of  the  four-year-old  boy  to  the  solici- 
tous inquiry  of  a  lady,  when  a  careless  servant  spilled 
some  hot  coffee  on  his  legs.  Not  long  afterwards  he 
edified  a  group  of  visitors  in  the  drawing-room  by 
walking  into  the  room  and  exclaiming : 

"Cursed  be  Sallie;  for  it  is  written,  ^Cursed  be  he 
that  removeth  his  neighbor's  landmark.' "  This 
scriptural  malediction  was  directed  against  a  serving- 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH  IX 

maid  who  had  removed  a  row  of  oyster  shells  with 
which  he  had  marked  out  tht  limits  of  his  playground. 

He  early  formed  the  habit  of  holding  a  jjiece  of 
bread  and  butter  in  his  hand,  from  which  he  would 
occasionally  take  a  bite,  when  he  was  engaged  in 
study.  His  mother  one  day  told  him  he  must  break 
up  the  habit.  "  Yes,  mamma,"  he  replied,  "  industry 
shall  be  my  bread  and  attention  my  butter." 

At  the  age  of  eight  he  had  covered  a  wide  range  of 
reading,  and  had  accumulated  a  large  store  of  know- 
ledge, which  his  wonderfully  retentive  memory  enabled 
him  to  use  with  considerable  facility  and  force.  He 
soon  became  accustomed  to  express  his  thoughts  in 
both  prose  and  poetry.  His  marvellously  fertile  mind 
began  to  pour  forth  its  treasures  at  an  age  when  the 
average  child  has  not  yet  learned  even  to  read;  and 
though  his  earlier  productions  have  not  been  deemed 
worthy  of  preservation,  they  gave  abundant  promise 
of  the  maturer  work  with  which  he  was  destined  to 
enrich  literature  for  all  time. 

One  of  his  productions  was  a  paper  which  was 
intended  to  persuade  the  people  of  Travancore  to 
embrace  the  Christian  religion,  of  which  his  mother 
says :  "  On  reading  it,  I  found  it  to  contain  a  very 
clear  idea  of  the  leading  facts  and  doctrines  of  that 
religion,  with  some  strong  arguments  for  its  adoption. 
Heroic  poems,  epics,  odes,  and  histories  flowed  from  his 


X  INTRODUCTION 

pen  like  waters  from  a  mountain  spring;  and  while 
they  were  often  crude  and  boyish,  they  were  the 
spontaneous  expressions  of  a  mind  which  was  rapidly 
growing  into  a  consciousness  of  its  own  productive 
power." 

His  elementary  education  was  secured  at  a  small 
private  school  near  Cambridge,  where  his  individual 
peculiarities  were  allowed  much  freedom  in  their  de- 
velopment, yet  with  sufficient  guidance  to  coordinate 
them  wisely.     At  the  age  of  thirteen  he  wrote : 

"The  books  which  I  am  at  present  employed  in 
reading  to  myself  are,  in  English,  Plutarch's  Lives 
and  Milner's  Ecclesiastical  History ;  in  French,  Fene- 
lon's  Dialogues  of  the  Dead.  I  shall  send  you  back 
the  volumes  of  Madame  de  Genlis's  x>^tit  romans  as 
soon  as  possible,  and  should  be  very  much  obliged  for 
one  or  two  more  of  them." 

He  also  formed  a  taste  for  fiction,  which  he  read 
with  such  eagerness  that  very  few  novels  in  the 
English  language  escaped  his  eye. 

Notwithstanding  his  literary  tastes  and  his  absorption 
in  his  reading  and  studies,  he  never  allowed  school 
duties  to  encroach  upon  his  love  of  home  and  friends,  or 
to  reconcile  him  to  his  '^ exile."  At  the  beginning  of  his 
second  half-year  at  school  he  writes  to  his  mother : 

"  My  spirits  are  far  more  depressed  by  leaving  home 
than   they   were   last    half-year.     Everything   brings 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  XI 

home  to  my  recollection.  You  told  me  I  should  be 
happy  when  I  once  came  here,  but  not  an  hour  passes 
in  which  I  do  not  shed  tears  at  thinking  of  home." 

His  biographer  gives  an  illustration  of  his  wonder- 
ful memory,  which  is  referred  to  this  period.  AVhile 
sitting  in  a  Cambridge  coffee-house  he  picked  up  a 
paper  and  read  two  poetical  effusions  which  were 
printed  in  it,  one  called  "Reflections  of  an  Exile," 
and  the  other  a  parody  on  a  Welsh  ballad.  He  looked 
them  once  through,  and  his  mind  did  not  recur  to 
them  again  for  forty  years,  at  the  end  of  which  period 
he  was  able  to  repeat  them  without  changing  a  word. 
Joined  with  these  retentive  powers  was  the  ability  to 
assimilate  the  contents  of  a  printed  page  almost  at  a 
glance.  He  would  read  a  whole  book  while  the  aver- 
age reader  would  be  covering  a  chapter.  Xor  was 
this  merely  "skimming,"  as  he  could  always  repeat 
the  substance  of  the  book  from  memory  afterwards. 

He  entered  upon  all  branches  of  study  with  equal 
avidity,  excepting  only  mathematics,  which  he  always 
regarded  with  intense  aversion  and  pursued  only 
under  protest.  In  regard  to  this  subject  he  writes 
home  from  the  University: 

••I  can  scarcely  bear  to  write  on  mathematics  or 
mathematicians.  Oh  for  words  to  express  my  abomi- 
nation for  that  science,  if  a  name  sacred  to  the  useful 
and  embellishing  arts  may  be  applied  to  the  percep- 


XU  INTRODUCTION 

tion  and  recollection  of  certain  properties  of  numbers 
and  figures.  Oh  that  I  had  to  learn  astrology,  or 
demonology,  or  school  divinity;  oh  that  I  were  to 
pore  over  Thomas  Aquinas,  and  to  adjust  the  relation 
of  Entity  with  the  two  Predicaments,  so  that  I  were 
exempt  from  this  miserable  study!  'Discipline'  of 
the  mind!  Say  rather  starvation,  confinement,  tort- 
ure, annihilation!  But  it  must  be.  I  feel  myself 
becoming  a  personification  of  algebra,  a  living  trig- 
onometrical canon,  a  walking  table  of  logarithms.  All 
my  perceptions  of  elegance  and  beauty  are  gone,  or  at 
least  going.  .  .  .  But  such  is  my  destiny;  and  since 
it  is  so,  be  the  pursuit  contemptible,  below  contempt, 
or  disgusting  beyond  abhorrence,  I  shall  aim  at  no 
second  place." 

At  Cambridge,  as  at  the  preparatory  school,  he 
excelled  in  literary  and  classical  studies  and  was 
noted  for  his  ready  and  somewhat  boisterous  conver- 
sational powers.  He  early  became  interested  in  polit- 
ical questions,  and  began  to  participate  in  political 
discussions.  While  at  Cambridge  he  renounced  the 
principles  of  the  Tory  party  to  which  his  father 
was  attached,  and  became  an  ardent  Whig,  and  after- 
wards became  one  of  the  trusted  leaders  of  the  party. 

In  1819  he  won  the  Chancellor's  medal  for  a  poem 
on  "Pompeii,"  and  again  in  1820  for  a  poem  entitled 
"  Evening."    In  1822  he  received  his  Bachelor's  degree, 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  xill 

and  in  1824  was  elected  to  a  fellowship,  which  was 
the  more  pleasing  to  him  because  it  brought  such 
deep  gratification  to  his  parents. 

His  first  literary  efforts  were  contributed  to  Knighfs 
Quarterly  Magazine,  for  which  he  wrote  several  arti- 
cles between  June,  1823,  and  November,  1824.  In 
this  latter  year  he  made  his  debut  as  a  public  speaker 
at  an  anti-slavery  meeting,  where  he  seems  to  have 
made  a  considerable  impression  by  his  eloquence  and 
exhaustive  treatment  of  the  subject. 

In  1825  he  contributed  his  essay  on  "^Sfilton"  to  the 
Edinburgh  Review,  and  for  twenty  years  after  he  was 
a  constant  writer  for  this  celebrated  magazine.  His 
"Milton"  brought  him  wide  renown,  and  made  his 
name  familiar  to  a  wide  circle  of  readers.  AVhile  his 
work  was  scholarly,  it  was  also  popular  and  intensely 
interesting.  Probably  no  other  writer  of  the  present 
century  has  so  taken  the  world  by  storm  as  did 
Macaulay.  The  circulation  of  the  Review  increased 
with  unexampled  rapidity.  In  America  his  essays 
were  reprinted  in  editions  both  cheap  and  expensive, 
and  were  not  only  sold  in  large  quantities  here  but 
even  found  a  large  sale  in  the  mother  country. 

Macaulay  imparted  to  his  writings  a  peculiar  charm 
from  which  even  the  casual  reader  cannot  escape.  His 
wide  reading  and  wonderful  memory  enabled  him  to 
range  the  whole  field  of  literature  and  history  for  his 


XIV  INTRODUCTION 

illustrations  and  allusions,  and  also  to  impart  a  large 
amount  of  information,  which,  if  not  always  strictly 
accurate,  was  invested  in  such  picturesque  and  beauti- 
ful language  that  it  appealed  directly  to  the  higher 
tastes  of  his  readers  and  did  much  to  quicken  their 
intellectual  life. 

In  1825  he  received  his  Master's  degree,  and  in 
1826  was  called  to  the  bar,  but  he  very  soOn  aban- 
doned his  attempt  to  practise  law  and  gave  himself 
up  to  his  literary  work  and  to  the  pursuit  of  politics. 

His  articles  in  the  Edinburgh  Review  brought  him 
a  wide  popularity,  which,  added  to  his  powerful  ad- 
vocacy of  Whig  principles,  made  it  possible  for  him 
to  enter  Parliament,  and  in  1830  he  was  returned  from 
the  borough  of  Colne. 

His  first  speech  was  in  favor  of  a  bill  to  remove  the 
civil  disabilities  of  the  Jews,  and  his  second  was  di- 
rected against  slavery  in  the  West  Indies.  He  also 
took  a  prominent  part  in  the  great  debate  on  the 
Eeform  Bill,  and  contributed  materially  to  its  final 
adoption. 

'  From  this  time  his  position,  both  in  politics  and 
society,  was  assured.  He  was  probably  the  most  prom- 
inent and  influential  member  of  his  party  in  the  House 
and  was  always  listened  to  with  interest  and  respect. 
He  won  renown  not  only  for  the  eloquence  and  power 
of  his  speeches,  but  also  for  his  readiness  in  debate. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  XV 

His  great  stores  of  information  and  his  exhanstless 
memory  both  combined  to  make  him  invincible  in  the 
hot  battles  that  were  then  waged  in  Parliament. 

On  July  10,  1833,  he  made  an  effective  speech  in 
favor  of  an  important  measure  then  under  considera- 
tion, at  the  close  of  which  one  of  the  administration 
leaders  gave  utterance  to  his  admiration  in  the  follow- 
ing words : 

"  I  must  embrace  the  opportunity  of  expressing,  not 
what  I  felt  (for  language  could  not  express  it),  but  of 
making  an  attempt  to  convey  to  the  House  my  sym- 
pathy with  it  in  its-  admiration  of  the  speech  of  my 
honorable  and  learned  friend :  a  speech  which,  I  will 
venture  to  assert,  has  never  been  exceeded  ^vithin 
these  walls  for  the  development  of  statesman-like 
policy  and  practical  good  sense.  It  exhibited  all  that 
is  noble  in  oratory ;  all  that  is  sublime,  I  had  almost 
said,  in  poetry;  all  that  is  truly  great,  exalted,  and 
virtuous  in  human  nature.  If  the  House  at  large  felt 
a  deep  interest  in  this  magnificent  display,  it  may 
judge  of  what  were  my  emotions  when  I  perceived  in 
the  hands  of  my  honorable  friend  the  great  principles 
which  he  expounded  glowing  with  fresh  colors  and 
arrayed  in  all  the  beauty  of  truth." 

This  generous  tribute  expressed  no  more  than  the 
common  estimate  of  Macaulay's  eloquence  and  logical 
power. 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

In  1834  he  was  made  president  of  a  new  Law  Com- 
mission for  India  and  member  of  the  Supreme  Council 
of  Calcutta.  The  salary  attached  to  these  positions  was 
large,  and  during  his  three  years'  residence  in  India  he 
was  enabled  to  acquire  a  competency  which  made  him 
independent  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

While  in  India  he  found  time  to  continue  his  studies, 
and  also  to  write  several  of  his  brilliant  essays.  It 
was  at  this  time  that  he  acquired  the  knowledge  of 
Oriental  life  and  history,  which  he  afterwards  used  so 
effectively  in  his  essays  on  Warren  Hastings  and 
Lord  Clive. 

In  1838  he  returned  to  England,  and  was  at  once 
elected  to  Parliament  from  Edinburgh.  From  1839  to 
1841  he  was  Secretary  of  War  and  occupied  a  seat  in 
the  Cabinet.  In  1842  he  surprised  the  public  by 
turning  aside  from  his  usual  style  of  composition  and 
publishing  the  "Lays  of  Ancient  Rome,"  which  at 
once  became  immensely  popular,  and  have  remained 
so  to  the  present  day,  despite  the  fact  that  they  have 
been  condemned  by  critics  as  neither  poetry  nor  his- 
tory. In  1844  he  wrote  his  last  essay  for  the  Review 
and  then  gave  himself  up  to  the  preparation  of  his 
History  of  England  from  the  Time  of  James  II,,  the 
first  two  volumes  of  which  appeared  in  1849.  The 
event  of  their  publication  had  been  eagerly  antici- 
pated by  the  public,  and  they  sold  so  rapidly  that  the 


THE  ESSAYS  xvil 

publishers  could  hardly  keep  pace  with  the  demand. 
The  third  and  fourth  volumes  were  not  ready  until 
1855. 

In  1847  he  was  defeated  for  reelection  to  Parlia- 
ment, but  in  1852  was  returned  by  his  Edinburgh  con- 
stituency without  any  effort  on  his  part ;  but  he  took 
little  part  in  the  struggles  and  deliberations  of  that 
body. 

During  the  latter  part  of  Macaulay's  life  many  dis- 
tinguished honors  were  conferred  upon  him.  In  1849 
he  was  elected  Lord  Eector  of  the  University  of  Glas- 
gow and  Fellow  of  the  Koyal  Society.  In  1857  he 
was  made  a  peer  of  the  realm,  under  the  title  of  Baron 
Macaulay  of  Kothley.  In  this  same  year  he  was 
elected  Foreign  Member  of  the  French  Academy,  was 
given  the  Prussian  Order  of  Merit,  and  was  made 
High  Steward  of  Cambridge.  But  his  hard  and  un- 
remitting labor  had  undermined  his  naturally  strong 
constitution,  and  he  died,  December  2^,  1859,  when 
hardly  past  the  prime  of  life. 


THE   ESSAYS 


As  a  form  of  literature  the  essay  is  a  relatively 
short  disquisition  upon  some  particular  point  or  topic. 
It  is  not  as  formal  and  methodical  as  the  more  digni- 


xvili  INTRODUCTION 

fied  treatise,  anci  instead  of  giving  a  thorough  and 
complete  treatment  of  its  subject,  is  comparatively 
superficial,  and  is  designed,  as  a  rule,  to  appeal  to  the 
popular  taste  rather  than  to  the  more  limited  circle 
of  scholarly  and  profound  thinkers  for  whom  the 
treatise  is  primarily  designed. 

The  essay  offers  an  opportunity  for  the  bright  and 
witty  thinker  to  discourse  confidentially  upon  subjects 
in  which  he  is  interested  without  being  required  to 
give  to  them  an  orderly  and  exhaustive  treatment,  or 
to  make  his  work  conform  rigidly  to  all  the  canons 
of  literary  criticism. 

In  the  essay,  more  than  in  any  other  impersonal 
form  of  literary  effort,  the  author  is  able  to  impress 
his  own  personality  upon  his  work,  so  that  oftentimes 
it  assumes  the  freedom  and  variety  and  is  often  char- 
acterized by  the  individuality  of  the  conversational 
monologue.  It  needs  no  profouna  student  of  litera- 
ture to  recognize  at  once  the  author  in  such  essays 
as  those  of  Bacon,  Addison,  Macaulay,  or  Matthew 
Arnold. 

This  species  of  composition  has  been  a  favorite  one 
from  the  time  of  Bacon,  the  great  English  philosopher, 
and  Montaigne,  the  greatest  French  writer  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  who  were  the  first  of  modern  writers 
to  use  it  distinctively.  It  is  especially  adapted  to 
periodical  literature,  and  if  it  has  not  risen  to  its 


THE  ESSAYS  XlX 

highest  level,  it  has,  at  any  rate,  appeared  in  its  most 
agreeable  and  attractive  form  in  such  publications  as 
the  Tatler,  Spectator,  and  Edinburgh  Review.  It  has 
been  used  as  the  vehicle  for  historical  and  biographi- 
cal sketches,  literary  and  critical  discussions,  political 
arguments,  and  ethical  and  religious  expositions.  It 
has  generally  been  written  in  prose,  although  Pope, 
in  his  essays  on  "  Man  "  and  "  Criticism,"  has  shown 
that  it  may  appear  in  poetic  form,  without  loss  of 
freshness  or  vigor. 

Some  authors,  like  Addison  and  Steele,  have  pro- 
duced the  most  of  their  literary  work  in  this  form, 
while  others,  like  Cowley,  have  used  it  as  a  diversion, 
and  have  gained  their  reputation  in  other  fields  of 
literature. 

To  the  scholar  essay-writing  may  seem  to  be  a  form 
of  literary  dissipation,  which,  persisted  in,  will  make 
the  writer  incapable  of  close  and  sustained  work  along 
any  single  line.  Whether  this  be  true  or  not,  it  is 
certain  that  the  essay  has  influenced  beneficially  a 
wider  class  of  readers  than  any  other  form  of  compo- 
sition outside  of  fiction,  and  even  fiction  has  done 
much  less  to  disseminate  useful  information  and  to 
inspire  thoughtful  consideration  of  great  questions. 

Unlike  poetry  and  fiction,  the  modern  essay  has  not 
undergone  a  process  of  evolution.  In  its  essential 
characteristics  it  has  not  changed  materially  since  its 


XX  INTRODUCTION 

first  appearance  in  the  sixteenth  century.  A  compari- 
son between  the  essays  of  Bacon  and  ^[ontaigne  and 
those  of  almost  any  modern  writer  will  show  differ- 
ences in  the  personal  standpoint  and  style  of  treat- 
ment, but  the  essential  elements  of  composition  remain 
the  same.  The  essay,  like  Athena,  sprang  full-grown 
and  fully  armed  into  the  world  of  literature,  and  took 
its  place  at  once  as  a  finished  and  perfected  product. 

The  essays  of  Macaulay,  which  are  probably  the 
most  brilliant  in  the  whole  range  of  literature,  were 
contributed  mainly  to  the  Edinburgh  Review,  a  journal 
which  had  risen  to  an  unequalled  height  of  political, 
social,  and  literary  power.  To  have  the  entry  of  its 
columns  was  to  command  the  most  direct  channel  for 
the  spread  of  opinions  and  the  shortest  road  to  influ- 
ence and  celebrity. 

Many  of  these  essays  were  nominally  book  reviews, 
and  were  generally  suggested  by  some  book,  whose 
unfortunate  author  found  himself  completely  over- 
shadowed by  his  sometimes  friendly,  but  frequently 
hostile,  critic.  In  reality  these  productions  are  brill- 
iant essays,  biographical,  historical,  and  literary,  and 
sometimes,  though  not  often,  really  critical.  Macau- 
lay's  sympathy  was  too  easily  aroused,  and  his  parti- 
sanship was  too  intense  to  permit  him  to  employ 
either  the  cool  temper  of  the  critic  or  the  calm  im- 
partiality of  the  historian. 


THE  ESSAYS  XXl 

In  the  course  of  his  reading  ^Macaulay  had  acciunu- 
lated  an  immense  quantity  and  variety  of  facts,  which 
his  great  retentive  powers  placed  at  his  service  when- 
ever he  wanted  to  use  them.  Thus  his  essa3"s  be- 
came exhaustless  storehouses  of  information  gathered 
from  all  fields  of  human  learning  and  compacted  with 
great  ingenuity  and  skill  into  literary  masterpieces. 
Although  he  composed  with  great  rapidity,  he  never 
wrote  carelessly  or  hastily.  He  gives  an  insight  into 
his  literary  methods  in  a  letter  written  to  the  editor 
of  the  Edinburgh  Bevieiv  from  Calcutta,  November 
26,  1836,  from  which  the  following  passage  is  taken :  ^ 

"  At  last  I  send  you  an  article  of  interminable  length 
on  Lord  Bacon.  I  hardly  know  whether  it  is  not  too 
long  for  an  article  in  the  Be  view,  but  the  subject  is 
of  such  vast  extent  that  I  could  easily  have  made  the 
paper  twice  as  long  as  it  is.  About  the  historical  and 
political  part  there  is  no  great  probability  that  we 
shall  differ  in  opinion ;  but  what  I  have  said  about 
Bacon's  philosophy  is  widely  at  variance  with  what 
Dugald  Stewart  and  ^lackintosh  have  said  on  the 
same  subject.  .  .  .  My  opinion  is  formed  not  at  sec- 
ond hand,  like  those  of  nine-tenths  of  the  people  who 
talk  about  Bacon ;  but  after  several  very  attentive 
perusals  of  his  greatest  works  and  after  a  great  deal 
of  thought.  ...     I  never  bestowed  so  much  care  on 

-  See  Trevelyau's  Life  and  Letters  of  Macaulay,  Vol.  I.,  p.  47. 


xxii  INTRODUCTION 

an3'thing  I  have  written.  There  is  not  a  sentence 
in  the  latter  half  of  the  article  which  has  not  been 
repeatedly  recast." 

Macaiilay  never  intended  to  put  his  essays  into 
permanent  form,  and  several  times  refused  the  re- 
quest of  his  publishers  to  collect  and  edit  them.  But 
finally  the  popular  demand  became  so  great  that 
American  publishers  issued  unauthorized  editions, 
which  found  a  ready  sale  in  England  as  well  as 
in  America.  Influenced  by  this  fact,  he  finally  con- 
sented to  edit  and  publish  an  authorized  edition,  to 
which  he  attached  the  following  preface  : 

"The  author  of  these  essays  is  so  sensible  of  their 
defects  that  he  has  repeatedly  refused  to  let  them 
appear  in  a  form  which  might  seem  to  indicate  that 
he  thought  them  worthy  of  a  permanent  place  in 
English  literature ;  nor  would  he  now  give  his  con- 
sent to  the  re-publication  of  pieces  so  imperfect,  if, 
by  withholding  his  consent,  he  could  make  re-publica- 
tion impossible.  But  as  they  have  been  reprinted 
more  than  once  in  the  United  States,  as  many  Ameri- 
can copies  have  been  imported  into  this  country,  and 
as  a  still  larger  importation  is  expected,  he  conceives 
that  he  cannot,  in  justice  to  the  publishers  of  the 
Edinburgh  Revieiv,  longer  object  to  a  measure  which 
they  consider  as  necessary  to  the  protection  of  their 
rights,  and  that  he  cannot  be  accused  of  presumption 


THE  ESSAYS  XXlll 

for  wishing  that  his  writings,  if  they  are  read,  may  be 
read  in  an  edition  freed  at  least  from  errors  of  the 
press  and  from  slips  of  the  pen.  .  .  . 

'^'^0  attempt  has  been  made  to  remodel  any  of  the 
pieces  which  are  contained  in  these  volumes.  Even 
the  criticism  on  ]\Iilton,  which  was  written  when  the 
author  was  fresh  from  college,  and  which  contains 
scarcely  a  paragraph  such  as  his  matured  judgment 
approves,  still  remains  overloaded  with  gaudy  and 
ungraceful  ornament.  The  blemishes  which  have 
been  removed  were,  for  the  most  part,  blemishes 
caused  by  unavoidable  haste.  The  author  has  some- 
times, like  other  contributors  to  periodical  works, 
been  under  the  necessity  of  writing  at  a  distance 
from  all  books  and  from  all  advisers,  often  trusting 
to  his  memory  for  facts,  dates,  and  quotations,  and 
of  often  sending  manuscripts  to  the  post  without 
reading  them  over.  What  he  has  composed  thus  rap- 
idly has  often  been  as  rapidly  printed.  His  object 
has  been  that  every  essay  should  now  appear  as  it 
probably  would  have  appeared  when  it  was  first  pub- 
lished, if  he  had  been  allowed  an  additional  day  or 
two  to  revise  the  proof-sheets  with  the  assistance  of  a 
good  library.'^ 


xxiv  i:S^TRODUCTION' 

THE   LITERAEY   HISTORY  OF  MACAULAY'S 
AGEi 

A  CONSIDERABLE  iiumber  of  England's  most  noted 
writers  flourished  during  the  life  of  Macaulay.  At 
his  birth  the  greatest  poets  of  the  preceding  century 
were  still  in  the  fulness  of  their  powers,  while  at  his 
death  the  authors  who  have  been  so  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  glory  of  Victorian  literature  had 
already  begun  that  brilliant  work  which  has  made 
this  the  most  noteworthy  period  in  the  whole  range 
of  English  literature. 

With  few  exceptions,  the  greatest  English  poets  be- 
long to  the  nineteenth  century.  During  its  first  quarter 
the  world  Avas  dazzled  by  the  genius  of  Wordsworth, 
Coleridge,  Byron,  Southey,  Keats,  and  Shelley;  and 
they  had  hardly  passed  from  the  stage  when  the  first 
works  of  Browning  and  Tennyson  were  produced. 

1  The  Joint  Committee  on  English  Requirements,  at  its  session  in 
New  York  in  1897,  recommended  the  study  of  the  literary  history  of 
the  various  periods,  to  which  the  prescribed  books  belong,  in  connec- 
tion with  their  study.  No  attempt  is  made  here  even  to  sketch  the 
literary  history  of  this  period  further  than  is  necessary  to  furnish 
a  background  or,  what  may  be  so  called,  a  literary  setting  for 
Macaulay's  works.  A  more  extended  study  of  the  general  features 
of  the  period  may  be  carried  on  with  profit ;  yet  it  should  not  be 
forgotten  that  the  great  purpose  of  all  literary  study  should  be 
found  in  the  thought  of  the  author,  and  not  in  the  details  of  his 
life  history. 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  MACAULAY  S   AGE     XXV 

The  history  of  this  centur}^  contains  the  names  of 
nearly  all  uf  the  great  masters  of  English  fiction,  of 
whom  Scott,  Thackeray,  Dickens,  Buhver-Lytton,  ]\Iiss 
Edgeworth,  Charlotte  Bronte,  and  ]\riss  Austen  were 
contemporary  with  Macaulay. 

Two  writers  of  his  period  may  be  fairly  classed  with 
our  author,  although  they  differed  widely  from  him  in 
many  essential  characteristics.  These  were  De  Quincey 
and  Carlyle,  who,  with  Macaulay,  will  easily  rank  among 
the  greatest  of  English  essayists. 

Like  Macaulay,  De  Quincey  began  his  literarj^  career 
by  contributing  to  periodical  literature,  but,  unlike  him, 
he  also  ended  it  there :  and  he  has  the  distinction  of 
being  the  only  great  English  prose  writer  who  never 
wrote  a  book.  Eew  writers  since  the  time  of  Aristotle 
have  covered  so  broad  a  field,  and  fewer  still  have 
proved  themselves  so  thoroughly  at  home  in  every 
department  of  human  thought  and  investigation,  yet 
he  never  sustained  any  line  of  thought  or  investigation 
long  enough  to  produce  a  work  which  may  be  called  a 
real  contribution  to  the  intellectual  life  of  the  world. 
The  literary  value  of  his  works  is  great,  and  in  beauty 
and  grace,  as  well  as  dignity,  his  style  is  hardl}^  ex- 
celled; yet  he  cannot  be  ranked  among  the  great 
masters  of  English  thought. 

In  this  respect  De  Quincey  was  distinctly  inferior 
to  Macaulay  and  Carlyle,  each  of  whom  engaged  in 


XX  vi  INTRODUCTION 

exhaustive  research,  and  produced  works  that  have 
enriched  literature  for  all  time. 

Many  points  of  resemblance  will  be  discovered  be- 
tween De  Quincey  and  Macaulay  from  a  comparative 
study  of  their  works.  They  were  both  indefatigable 
readers,  and  possessed  of  wonderful  retentive  powers. 
Both  wrote  for  magazines  on  a  wide  range  of  topics. 
Each  was  gifted  with  peculiar  beauties  of  style  and 
with  a  remarkable  exuberance  of  thought ;  but  in  their 
personal  characteristics  they  were  at  the  antipodes. 
The  one  was  retiring,  introspective,  and  morbid;  the 
other  was  a  man  of  affairs,  and  gifted  with  the  power 
of  leadership.  Both  were  masters  of  the  now  almost 
forgotten  art  of  conversation. 

Between  Macaulay  and  Carlyle  there  were  few 
resemblances  and  fewer  elements  of  sympathy.  They 
were  both  great  prose  writers,  and  interested  in  the 
same  general  class  of  subjects.  Each  was  attracted  to 
the  study  of  history,  and  particularly  to  questions 
relating  to  political  and  social  conditions ;  but  their 
view  points  were  essentially  antagonistic.  The  one 
was  an  interested  participator  in  the  political  activi- 
ties of  his  times,  and  conducted  his  historical  studies 
and  investigations  from  the  standpoint  of  a  partisan, 
while  the  other  was  a  philosopher,  and  almost  a 
recluse. 

Yet  while  ]Macaulay  is  more  attractive  and,  by  the 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  MACAVLAY'S  AGE     XXVil 

ordinary  reader,  mucli  more  easily  understood  and 
sympathized  with,  Carlyle  is  much  the  stronger  char- 
acter, and  his  work  has  influenced  English  thought 
more  profoundly. 

]\Iacaulay's  greatest  work  is  read  to-day  more  for  the 
brilliancy  of  his  style  and  the  power  and  realism  of  his 
characterizations  than  for  the  accuracy  of  his  judgments 
or  his  contributions  to  historical  knowledge.  On  the 
other  hand,  Carlyle's  CromiceU  is  not  only  good  history, 
but  it  has  reversed  the  judgment  of  the  English  people, 
and  led  to  the  recognition  of  its  hero  as  the  second 
founder  of  English  liberties.  His  French  Revolution 
and  Frederick  the  Great  are  perhaps  the  most  note- 
worthy works  of  their  class  in  the  English  language, 
and  the  latter  practically  exhausts  the  historical  ma- 
terials of  the  period.  Yet  his  most  characteristic  work 
is  found  in  his  literary  and  critical  essays,  which  rise 
to  a  higher  intellectual  plane  than  any  which  preceded 
them,  and  have  probably  not  been  excelled  by  any 
similar  productions  in  the  whole  range  of  literature. 

Among  the  poets  who  were  strictly  contemporary 
with  IMacaulay  were  Byron,  Shelley,  Keats,  Southey, 
Coleridge,  and  Wordsworth.  The  last  three  were  born 
between  1770  and  1775,  but  the  greater  part  of  their 
work  was  done  during  Macaulay's  lifetime.  All  may 
be  ranked  among  England's  greatest  poets.  "Kubla 
Khan,"  ''  Christabel,"  and  "  The  Ancient  Mariner  "  by 


xxviil  INTRODUCTION 

Coleridge,  the  "  Ode  on  Intimations  of  Immortality  " 
and  "  Lines  written  at  Tintern  Abbey  "  by  Wordsworth, 
and  the  "Lyrics"  of  Shelley  are  among' the  noblest 
products  of  poetic  genius  to  be  found  in  any  language. 

Another  famous  contemporary  was  Sydney  Smith, 
the  greatest  of  English  wits,  of  whom  Macaulay  speaks 
characteristically  in  one  of  his  letters  as  follows : 

"The  other  day  as  I  was  changing  my  neckcloth, 
which  my  wig  had  disfigured,  my  good  landlady 
knocked  at  the  door  of  my  bedroom  and  told  me  that 
Mr.  Smith  Vv^ished  to  see  me,  and  was  in  my  room 
below.  Of  ail  names  by  which  men  are  called  there 
is  none  which  conveys  a  less  determinate  idea  to  the 
mind  than  that  of  Smith.  .  .  .  Down  I  went,  and,  to 
jny  utter  amazement,  beheld  the  Smith  of  Smiths, 
Sydney  Smith,  alias  Peter  Plymley.  I  had  forgotten 
his  very  existence  till  I  discerned  the  queer  contrast 
between  the  clerical  amplitude  of  his  person  and  the 
most  unclerical  wit,  whim,  and  petulance  of  his  eye. 
...  I  am  very  well  pleased  at  having  this  oppor- 
tunity of  becoming  better  acquainted  with  a  man  who, 
in  spite  of  innumerable  affectations  and  oddities,  is 
certainly  one  of  the  wittiest  and  most  original  writers 
of  our  times.  ...  I  have  really  taken  a  great  liking 
to  him.  He  is  full  of  wit,  humor,  and  shrewdness. 
He  is  .not  one  of  the  show-talkers  who  reserve  all 
their  good  things  for  special  occasions.     It  seems  to 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  MACAULAY'S  AGE     xxix 

be  his  greatest  luxury  to  keep  his  wife  and  daughters 
laughing  for  two  or  three  hours  every  day." 

In  the  course  of  Macaulay's  life  he  came  into  close 
personal  acquaintance  not  only  with  political  leaders, 
but  with  many  of  the  more  noted  authors  of  his  time. 
Many  allusions  to  them  occur  in  his  letters,  which  are 
interesting,  as  they  indicate  his  mental  attitude  towards 
waiters  whose  standing  was  not  at  that  time  estab- 
lished.    A  few  of  these  allusions  are  quoted  below.^ 

"  Frkle  and  Prejudice  and  the  five  sister  novels 
remained  without  a  rival  in  his  affections.  He  never 
for  a  moment  wavered  in  his  allegiance  to  Miss  Aus- 
ten. In  1858  he  wa-ote  in  his  journal:  ^If  I  could  get 
materials  I  really  would  write  a  short  life  of  that 
wonderful  woman,  and  raise  a  little  money  to  put  up 
a  monument  to  her  in  Winchester  Cathedral.' " 

In  a  letter  to  his  sister  he  says : 

"  1  am  glad  you  have  read  Madame  de  Stael's  AUe- 
magne.  The  book  is  a  foolish  one  in  many  respects, 
but  it  abounds  with  information  and  shows  great  men- 
tal power.  She  was  certainly  the  first  woman  of  her 
age ;  Miss  Edgeworth,  I  think,  the  second ;  and  Miss 
Austen  the  third." 


1  These  allusions  and  many  more  may  be  found  in  Trerelyan's 
Life  of  Macavlay ,  which  is  one  of  the  few  great  biographies  in  the 
English  language.  Every  student  of  Macaulay  ought  to  be  familiar 
with  this  work. 


XXX  INTRODUCTION 

Of  Lord  Byron  he  says : 

"  The  worst  thing  that  I  know  about  Lord  Byron  is 
the  very  unfavorable  impression  he  made  upon  men 
who  certainly  were  not  inclined  to  judge  him  harshly, 
and  who,  as  far  as  I  know,  were  never  personally  ill- 
used  by  him.  I  have  heard  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  people,  who  never  saw  him,  rant  about  him ;  but 
I  never  heard  a  single  expression  of  fondness  for  him 
fall  from  the  lips  of  any  of  those  who  knew  him  well." 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  to  the  editor  of 
the  Edinburgh  Review  is  especially  interesting : 

Oct.  19,  1842. 

'^  Dear  Napier :  This  morning  I  received  Dickens's 
book.  I  have  now  read  it.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to 
review  it ;  nor  do  I  think  you  would  wish  me  to  do  so. 
I  cannot  praise  it,  and  I  will  not  cut  it  up.  I  cannot 
praise  it  though  it  contains  a  few  lively  dialogues  and 
descriptions ;  for  it  seems  to  me  to  be  on  the  whole  a 
failure.  ...  A  reader  who  wants  an  amusing  account 
of  the  United  States  had  better  go  to  Mrs.  Trollope, 
coarse  and  malignant  as  she  is.  A  reader  who  wants 
information  about  American  politics,  manners,  and  lit- 
erature had  better  go  even  to  so  poor  a  creature  as 
Buckingham.  In  short,  I  pronounce  the  book,  in  spite 
of  some  gleams  of  genius,  at  once  frivolous  and  dull. 

^'Therefore  I  shall  not  x^i'^ise  it.     Neither  will  I 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  MACAULAY'S    AGE     XXXI 

attack  it;  first,  be'cause  I  have  eaten  salt  with  Dick- 
ens ;  secondly,  because  he  is  a  good  man  and  a  man  of 
real  talent ;  thirdly,  because  he  hates  slavery  as  heartily 
as  I  do;  and  fourthly,  because  I  wish  to  see  him  en- 
rolled in  our  blue  and  yellow  corps,  where  he  may  do 
excellent  service  as  a  skirmisher  and  sharpshooter." 

He  had  a  great  admiration  for  Miss  Edgeworth,  the 
accomplished  author  of  Castle  llackrent,  Ormond,  Moral 
Tales,  etc. 

"Among  all  the  incidents  connected  with  the  publi- 
cation of  his  History,  nothing  pleased  Macaulay  so 
much  as  the  gratification  which  he  contrived  to  give 
Maria  Edgeworth,  as  a  small  return  for  the  enjoyment 
Avhich,  during  more  than  fifty  years,  he  had  derived 
from  her  charming  writings.  That  lady,  who  Avas  in 
her  eighty-third  winter  and  within  a  few  months  of 
her  death,  says,  in  the  course  of  a  letter  addressed  to 
Dr.  Holland :  'And  now,  my  good  friend,  I  require 
you  to  believe  that  all  the  admiration  I  have  ex- 
pressed for  Macaulay's  work  is  quite  uninfluenced  by 
the  self-satisfaction,  pride,  surprise,  I  had  in  finding 
my  own  name  in  a  note !  I  had  formed  my  opinion, 
and  expressed  it  to  my  friends  who  were  reading  the 
book  to  me,  before  I  came  to  that  note.  Moreover, 
there  was  a  mixture  of  shame,  and  a  tinge  of  pain, 
with  the  pleasure  and  pride  I  felt  in  having  a  line  in 


X  X  X  u  INTR  OD  UCTION 

this  immortal  History  given  to  me,  when  there  is  no 
mention  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  throughout  the  work, 
even  in  places  where  it  seems  impossible  that  the 
historian  should  resist  paying  the  becoming  tribute 
which  genius  owes,  and  loves  to  pay,  to  genius.  .  .  . 
IMeanwhile  be  so  good  as  to  make  my  grateful  and 
deeply  felt  thanks  to  the  great  author  for  the  honor 
which  he  has  done  me.' "' 

Perhaps  this  omission  may  be  explained  by  the  fol- 
lowing passage  from  a  letter  to  Mr.  Napier.  His 
estimate  of  the  personal  character  of  Scott  is  widely 
at  variance  with  the  facts  as  known  to  us. 

"  Then,  again,  I  have  not,  from  the  little  I  do  know 
about  him,  formed  so  high  an  opinion  of  his  character 
as  most  people  seem  to  entertain,  and  as  it  would  be 
expedient  for  the  Edinburgh  Review  to  express.  He 
seems  to  me  to  have  been  most  carefully  and  success- 
fully on  his  guard  against  the  sins  which  most  easily 
beset  literary  men.  On- that  side  he  multiplied  his 
precaution,  and  set  a  double  watch.  Hardly  any 
writer  of  note  has  been  so  free  from  the  petty  jeal- 
ousies and  morbid  irritabilities  of  our  caste.  But  I 
do  not  think  that  he  kept  himself  equally  pure  from 
faults  of  a  very  different  kind,  from  the  faults  of  a 
man  of  the  world.  In  politics,  a  bitter  and  unscrupu- 
lous partisan ;  profuse  and  ostentatious  in  expense ; 
agitated  by  the  hopes  and  fears  of  a  gambler;  perpet- 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  MACAULAY^S  AGE     xxxiii 

ually  sacrificing  the  perfection  of  his  compositions,  and 
the  durability  of  his  fame,  to  his  eagerness  for  money ; 
writing  with  the  slovenly  haste  of  Dryden,  in  order 
to  satisfy  wants  which  were  not,  like  those  of  Dryden, 
caused  by  circumstances  beyond  his  control,  but  which 
were  produced  by  his  extravagant  Avaste  or  rapacious 
speculation ;  this  is  the  way  in  which  he  appears  to  me. 
I  am  sorry  for  it,  for  I  sincerely  admire  the  greater 
part  of  his  works;  but  I  cannot  think  him  a  high- 
minded  man,  or  a  man  of  very  strict  principle." 

With  this  unfavorable  estimate  of  Scott  by  Macau- 
lay  it  is  interesting  to  compare  that  of  the  great  critic, 
Taine,  which  is  illustrated  by  the  following  extracts : 

"He  (Sir  AValter  Scott)  is  a  good  Protestant,  a 
good  husband,  a  good  father  and  very  moral.  .  .  . 
In  critical  refinement  and  benevolent  philosophy,  he 
resembles  Addison.  He  resembles  him  again  by  the 
purity  and  endurance  of  his  moral  principles.  His 
amanuensis,  IMr.  Laidlaw,  told  him  that  he  was  doing 
great  good  by  his  attractive  and  noble  tales,  and  that 
young  people  would  no  longer  wish  to  look  in  the 
literary  rubbish  of  the  circulating  libraries.  When 
Walter  Scott  heard  this,  his  eyes  filled  with  tears. 
On  his  death-bed  he  said  to  his  son-in-law:  'Lock- 
hart,  I  have  but  a  minute  to  speak  to  you.  My  dear, 
be  a  good'  man,  —  be  virtuous,  be  religious,  be  a  good 
man.     Nothing  else  will  give  you  any  comfort  when 


xxxiv  INTRODUCTION 

you  come  to  lie  here.'  This  was  almost  his  last  word. 
By  this  fundamental  honesty  and  this  broad  human- 
ity, he  was  the  Homer  of  modern  citizen  life." 

It  is  possible  that  Macaulay's  judgment  may  have 
been  biased  by  the  fact  that  while  he  was  an  ardent 
Whig,  Scott  was  an  equally  ardent  Tory. 


PROMINENT  AUTHORS  WHO  WERE  CONTEMPORARY 
WITH   MACAULAY. 

Walter  Savage  Landor 1775-18G4 

Jane  Austen 1775-1817 

Maria  Edgeworth 1707-1849 

Sydney  Smith 1771-1845 

Leigh  Hunt 1784-1859 

Thomas  Carlyle    . 1795-1881 

Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning          ....  1806-1861 

Edward  Bulwer  (Lord  Lytton)     ....  1805-1873 

Alfred  Tennyson 1809-1892 

Charles  Dickens 1812-1870 

Robert  Browning 1812-1889 

William  M.  Thackeray 1811-1863 

Lord  Byron 1788-1824 

Percy  B.  Shelley 1792-1822 

Thomas  De  Quincey 1785-1859 

John  Keats 1795-1821 

Southey 1774-1843 

Coleridge 1772-1834 

Wordsworth 1770-1850 

Scott 1771-1832 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  THE  STUDENT 


Eeadixg  to  be  profitable  must  be  careful  and  in- 
telligent. The  careless  and  hasty  reader  not  only 
fails  to  gain  the  knowledge  and  culture  which  are  the 
legitimate  products  of  all  reading,  but  even  dissipates 
his  intellectual  energies,  and  eventually  destroys  his 
ability  to  appreciate  good  literature.  That  method  of 
reading  only  is  intelligent  which  leads  to  a  clear  com- 
prehension of  the  author's  spirit  and  intent;  and  its 
necessary  conditions  are  a  knowledge  of  his  style  and 
vocabulary  and  such  a  w^arm  interest  in  the  develop- 
ment of  his  line  of  thought  and  investigation  as  will 
serve  for  an  inspiration  to  a  carefiU  and  earnest  study 
of  his  works. 

jMuch  that  is  written  in  literary  form  is  not  worth 
the  reading,  but  no  true  Avork  of  literature  will  ever 
fail  to  repay  the  student  for  his  labor  upon  it.  The 
wdse  selection  of  a  course  of  reading  is  therefore  a 
matter  of  the  highest  importance;  yet  there  are  so 
many  prepared  lists  and  helpful  suggestions  which 


XXX  vi  INTRODUCTION 

are  easily  accessible  that  no  earnest  student  need  go 
astray. 

Before  beginning  tlie  study  of  an  author  it  is  well  to 
learn  something  about  his  character  and  the  position 
which  he  occupies  in  the  literary  history  of  his  age. 
Oftentimes  a  know^ledge  of  his  personal  life  will  lead 
to  a  better  comprehension  of  his  works.  Such  study 
should  not  be  minute,  and  must  be  taken  up  not  merely 
to  satisfy  curiosity,  but  with  the  sustained  purpose  of 
ascertaining,  as  far  as  possible,  the  sources  of  his 
inspiration  and  the  general  character  and  trend  of 
his  thought. 

Many  authors  who  are  thought  to  be  obscure  by  the 
general  reader  are  so  only  because  their  spirit  and  mo- 
tives are  not  understood,  and  therefore  their  literary 
productions  seem  illogical,  and  sometimes  almost  or 
quite  meaningless.  Browning,  who  is  one  of  the 
richest  and  most  fruitful  of  modern  writers,  furnishes 
a  good  illustration  of  this  fact.  The  ordinary  reader 
fails  to  imderstand  him*  because  he  does  not  even 
apprehend  his  real  personality  and  truest  and  deepest 
purposes ;  and  thus  his  language,  which  is  so  heavily 
laden  with  the  rarest  treasures  of  thought,  becomes 
unintelligible. 

The  student  who  is  seeking  to  develop  a  love  for  good 
literature  should  never  cultivate  a  critical  or  censorious 
spirit.     His  aim  should  be  to  search  for  the  true  and 


SUGGESTIOXS  FOR   THE  STUDENT        xxxvil 

tlie  beautiful,  and  not  to  be  on  the  lookout  for  faults 
and  blemishes.  The  acquisition  of  such  a  critical  spirit 
must  invariably  blind  the  student  to  those  very  elements 
which  alone  are  worth  his  study. 

If  the  student  searches  for  faults  in  Macaulay's  works 
he  will  surely  find  them,  and  often  flagrant  ones ;  but 
his  aim  shoidd  be  far  different  from  this-  It  is  true 
that  an  intelligent  reading  of  either  Macaulay's  Essays 
or  his  History  cannot  fail  to  disclose  his  faults ;  but 
these  should  be  passed  over  with  as  little  notice  as 
possible,  and  the  attention  concentrated  upon  the 
beauties  of  his  style  and  thought.  Aside  from  their 
brillianc}^,  there  is  a  peculiarly  magnetic  quality  in 
^lacaulay's  works  which  at  once  wins  the  reader  and 
brings  him  into  close  sympathy  with  their  author. 
The  student  who  studies  him  with  an  earnest  purpose 
will  soon  find  himself  under  the  sway  of  his  magic, 
and  his  works  will  be  invested  with  an  almost  irre- 
sistible interest. 

It  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  all  literary  study 
that  the  student  should  first  gain  a  fair  knowledge  of 
the  work  as  a  whole,  the  general  trend  of  reasoning, 
and  the  conclusions  which  the  author  desires  to  estab- 
lish, before  proceeding  to  an  analytical  and  detailed 
study.  So  in  taking  up  these  essays  the  student  should 
first  read  them  through  carefully  without  stopping  to 
look  up  references  or  to  verify  allusions,  in  order  to 


XXXVIU  INTRODUCTION 

gain  a  general  view  of  the  whole  field.  Then  he 
should  turn  back  and  begin  a  more  or  less  exhaustive 
study  of  the  essay,  giving  his  attention  mainly  to 
the  author's  style  and  vocabulary,  and  to  its  general 
content. 

Macaulay's  vocabulary  was  noted  chiefly  for  its  wide 
extent  and  for  his  good  taste  in  the  use  of  words.  He 
displays  no  eccentricities,  nor  does  he  employ  unusual 
or  provincial  forms  of  speech.  '  In  his  choice  of  words 
he  is  both  dignified  and  graceful.  These  and  other 
characteristics  should  be  carefully  noted,  but  too  much 
time  should  not  be  devoted  to  the  study  of  words  in 
this  or  in  any  other  masterpiece.  It  must  always  be 
remembered  that  words  are  but  the  instruments  by 
which  thought  is  expressed,  and  only  enough  time 
should  be  given  to  their  study  to  enable  the  student 
to  master  the  intricacies  of  the  author's  thought.  It 
is  the  living  spirit  which  quickens,  and  words  are  but 
the  vehicles  by  which  it  is  conveyed. 

The  second  subject  of  study  is  the  author's  style, 
and  it  offers  a  most  fruitful  field  for  interesting  and 
profitable  investigation.  Few  authors  have  been  char- 
acterized by  a  style  at  once  so  brilliant  and  so  clear ; 
so  florid  and  picturesque,  and  yet  so  simple  and  direct. 
His  essays  abound  in  imagery,  comparisons,  contrasts, 
and  allusions.  From  his  boundless  stores  of  informa- 
tion he  draws  copiously  and  with  marked  spontaneity 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR   THE  STUDENT         xxxix 

illustrations  of  his  subject  whicli  cover  the  widest 
possible  range  of  human  thought  and  life.  He  knows 
not  only  the  great  events  and  personages  of  the  world's 
history  and  literature,  but  he  evinces  a  remarkable 
familiarity  with  persons  and  deeds  so  inconspicuous 
as  hardly  to  find  mention  in  the  most  detailed  annals 
of  the  past.  The  student  who  conscientiously  follows 
out  each  allusion  and  illustration  in  any  one  of  his 
greater  essays  will  have  to  search  through  many  dic- 
tionaries, encyclopaedias,  and  histories,  and  will  acquire 
no  small  fund  of  useful  and  interesting  information. 
And  whoever  does  this  will  gain  some  idea  of  the 
wide  range  of  reading,  the  indefatigable  industry, 
and  the  marvellous  memory  of  the  author,  who  wrote 
many  of  these  essays,  as  he  himself  says,  afar  from 
books  and  libraries,  without  an  opportunity  even  to 
verify  the  references  with  which  his  memory  supplied 
him  so  bountifully. 

The  student  should  study  carefully  the  various  con- 
structive devices-  which  he  employs  to  convey  his 
meaning,  such  as  the  balanced  and  periodical  sentence ; 
the  antithetical  and  climactic  forms  of  expression; 
and  the  numerous  rhetorical  figures,  such  as  j)athos, 
the  various  forms  of  comparison  and  contrast,  humor, 
hyperbole,  irony,  etc.,  all  of  which  he  frequently  uses 
with  power  and  effect.  Numerous  illustrations  of  all 
of  these  and  others  may  be  found  in  each  essay,  and 


xl  INTRODUCTION 

they  should  be  identified  and  studied  both  analytically 
and  constructively. 

His  style  may  be  characterized  briefly  as  clear,  simple, 
animated,  and  strong.  It  has  sometimes  been  called 
artificial,  but  the  true  lover  of  Macaulay  will  find 
it  the  natural  and  artistic  expression  of  his  sym- 
pathetic mind,  and  not  a  series  of  labored  devices  to 
attract  readers  or  impress  his  points.  In  the  long  run 
the  popular  verdict  of  a  writer  is  the  true  one.  Critics 
may  still  carp  and  cavil  at  the  author  of  "  Milton " 
and  "  The  Lays,''  but  by  the  popular  tribunal  he  has 
been  acquitted  of  their  charges  and  placed  forever 
among  the  great  masters  of  thought  and  expression 
which  the  English-speaking  world  has  produced. 

The  last  and  most  important  topic  of  study  is  found 
in  an  author's  purposes  and  the  steps  by  which  he  at- 
tains them.  And  here  the  easiest  and  by  far  the  most 
interesting  part  of  the  work  is  reached  in  a  study  of 
Macaulay. 

In  his  expression  he  is  always  clear  and  frank.  No 
m'atter  how  radical  his  views,  he  never  fears  to  utter 
them.  He  never  indulges  in  obscurities  or  subtleties 
of  thought.  His  opinions  never  lack  definition ;  and 
he  never  fails  to  express  them  so  clearly  that  they 
cannot  be  misunderstood,  and  so  forcibly  that  it  seems 
almost  presumption  to  attempt  to  discredit  them.  It 
is  true  that  he  is  so  yigorous  a  thinker,  and  becomes  so 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR   THE  STUB  EXT  xli 

absorbed  in  the  subject  with  which  he  is  dealing  at 
the  moment,  that  he  tends  towards  radical  and  ex- 
aggerated views,  so  that  his  subject  becomes  unduly- 
exalted  and  the  things  with  which  he  compares  or 
contrasts  it  correspondingly  depreciated.  But  it  is 
by  no  means  a  harmful  thing  for  a  young  person  to 
come  into  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  a  man  Avho 
can  be  at  one  moment  an  impetuous  lover  and  at  the 
next  moment  a  violent  hater,  and  one  who  is  not  afraid 
to  express  his  opinions  and  is  never  at  a  loss  for  vig- 
orous language  to  clothe  them  in. 

After  having  read  the  essay  as  a  whole,  the  student 
should  carefull}^  look  up  and  verify  all  its  allusions 
and  references,  re-reading  it  in  the  light  of  his  increased 
knowledge  and  expanded  horizon.  He  should  then 
make  a  paragraph  summary,  that  is,  he  should  express 
the  main  idea  of  each  paragraph  in  a  single  pointed 
sentence,  in  proper  order.  From  this  summary  he 
should  proceed  to  make  a  skeleton  of  the  essay  by 
selecting  the  most  important  points,  expanding  them^ 
and  joining  to  them  in  their  proper  order  and  relation- 
ship the  minor  or  subordinate  elements,  until  a  com- 
plete outline  of  the  whole  essay  has  been  formed. 

This  outline  should  then  be  studied,  point  by  point, 
to  ascertain  whether  Macaulay  developed  his  thought 
in  a  careful  and  logical  manner ;  whether  he  followed 
his  line  of  argument  closely  or  indulged  in  digressions  ; 


xlii  INTRODUCTION 

•whether  the  system  of  paragraphing  is  continuous  and 
harmonious  or  is  characterized  by  abrupt  changes ; 
whether  the  thought  is  expressed  in  plain  language  or 
in  figured  speech,  and  if  so  how  the  meaning  is  modi- 
fied or  expanded;  does  he  in  any  point  exaggerate 
or  take  a  false  position,  and  finally,  having  defined  his 
purpose,  has  he  attained  it  ? 

If  this  method  of  study  is  carefully  followed  out, 
and  supplemented  by  a  wider  reading  of  Macaulay's 
works,  it  is  believed  that  the  student  will  not  only  be 
benefited  intellectually,  but  that  something  of  the 
author's  strong  sweet  spirit  will  enter  into  his  life  to 
broaden  and  elevate  it. 


LORD  MACAULAY'S  PROSE  WRITINGS,  WITH 
DATE  OF  PUBLICATION. 

Fragments  of  a  Eoman  Tale.     June,  1823. 

On  the  Royal  Society  of  Literature.    June,  1823. 

Scenes  from  Athenian  Revels.     January,  1824. 

Criticisms  of    the   Principal   Italian   Writers,    No,  I.,  Dante. 

January,  1824. 
Criticisms  of  the  Principal  Italian  Writers,  Xo.  II.,  Petrarch. 

April,  1824. 
Some  Account  of  the  Great  Lawsuit  between  the  Parishes  of 

St.  Dennis  and  St.  George  in  the  Water.     April,  1824. 
A  Conversation  between  Mr.  Abraham  Cowley  and  Mr.  John 

Milton  touching  the  Great  Civil  War.     August,  1824. 
On  the  Athenian  Orators.     August,  1824. 
A  Prophetic  Account  of  a  Grand  National  Epic  Poem,  to  be 

entitled  "The  Wellingtoniad,"  and   to  be  published  a.d. 

2824.     November,  1824. 
On  Mitford's  History  of  Greece.    November,  1824. 

Note. — Up  to  this  time  his  essays  were  published  in  Knight's 
Quarterly  Magazine,  but  all  the  rest  appeared  in  the  Edinburgh 

Revieio. 

Milton.     August,  1825. 
The  West  Indies.     January,  1825. 
The  London  University.     February,  1826. 
Machiavelli.     March,  1827. 

Social  and  Industrial  Capacities  of  Negroes.     March,  1827- 
xliii 


xliv  INTRODUCTION 

The  Present  Administration,     June,  1827. 

John  Dryden.     January,  1828. 

History.     May,  1828. 

Hallam's  Constitutional  History.     September,  1828. 

Mill  on  Government.     March,  1829. 

Westminster  Reviewer's  Defence  of  Mill.    June,  1829. 

Utilitarian  Theory  of  Government.     October,  1829. 

Southey's  Colloquies  on  Society.     January,  1830. 

Mr.  Robert  Montgomery's  Poems.     April,  1830. 

Sadler's  Law  of  Population.     July,  1880. 

Southey's  Edition  of  Pilgrim's  Progress.     December,  1830. 

Sadler's  Refutation  Refuted.     January,  1831. 

Civil  Disabilities  of  the  Jews.     January,  1831. 

Moore's  Life  of  Lord  Byron.     June,  1831. 

Croker's  Edition  of  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson.     September, 

1831. 
Lord  Nugent's  Memorials  of  Hampden.     December,  1831. 
Rev.  Edward  Nave's  Memoirs  of  Lord  Burleigh.     April,  1832. 
Etienne  Dumont's  Memoirs  of  Mirabeau.     July,  1832. 
Lord  Mahon's  History  of  the  War  of  the  Succession  in  Spain. 

January,  1833. 
Horace  Walpole.     October,  1833. 
William  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham.     January,  1834. 
Sir  James  Mackintosh.     July,  1835. 
Lord  Bacon.     July,  1837. 
Sir  William  Temple.     October,  1838. 
Gladstone  on  Church  and  State.    April,  1839. 
Lord  Clive.     January,  1840. 
Von  Ranke.     October,  1840. 
Leigh  Hunt.     January,  1841. 
Lord  Holland.     July,  1841. 
Warren  Hastings.     October,  1841. 


PROSE   WRITINGS  xl\r 

Frederick  the  Great.     April,  1842. 

Madame  D'Arblay.     January,  1843. 

The  Life  and  Writings  of  Addison.     July,  1843. 

Barrere.    April,  1844. 

The  Earl  of  Chatham.     October,  1844. 

Note.  —  The    following   biographies    were    contributed    to  the 
Enci/dopsedia  Britannica. 

Francis  Atterbury.    December,  1853. 
John  Bunyan.     May,  1854. 
Oliver  Goldsmith.     February,  1856. 
Samuel  Johnson.     December,  1856. 
William  Pitt.     Januarj^,  1859. 

In  addition  to  these  essays  he  "^Tote  upwards  of 
eighty  short  biographical  sketches  of  persons  more  or 
less  noted. 

In  1848  he  published  the  first  two  volumes  of  his 
History  of  England  from  the  Accession  of  James  II. 

In  1852  the  third  and  fourth  volumes  appeared. 
He  was  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  the  fifth 
volume,  when  he  died. 


MISCELLANEOUS   POEMS. 


Epitaph  on  Henry  Martyn. 
Lines  to  the  Memory  of  Pitt. 
A  Radical  War-Song. 


xlvi  INTRODUCTION 

The  Battle  of  Moncontour. 

The  Battle  of  Naseby. 

Sermon  in  a  Churchyard. 

Translation  from  A.  V.  Arnault. 

Dies  Irae. 

The  Marriage  of  Tirzah  and  Ahirad. 

The  Country  Clergyman's  Trip  to  Cambridge. 

Song. 

Political  Georgics. 

The  Deliverance  of  Vienna. 

The  Last  Buccaneer. 

Epitaph  on  a  Jacobite. 

Lines  written  in  August,  1847. 

Translation  from  Plautus. 

Paraphrase. 

Inscription  on  the  Statue  of  Lord  William  Bentinck. 

Epitaph  on  Sir  Benjamin  Heath  Malkin. 

Epitaph  on  Lord  Metcalfe. 

Pompeii. 

The  Battle  of  Ivry. 

The  Armada. 

The  Cavalier's  March  to  London. 

The  Lays  of  Ancient  Rome  : 

Horatius. 

The  Battle  of  the  Lake  Regillus. 

Virginia. 

The  Prophecy  of  Capys. 


THE   ESSAY  OK  ADDISON 

This  essay  is  one  of  the  most  popular  of  Macaulay^s 
works,  and  deservedly,  so ;  yet  the  student  must  not 
accept  Macaulay's  estimate  of  Addison  as  impartial 
or  authoritative.  He  was  an  ardent  admirer  of  Addi- 
son, and  his  enthusiasm  led  him  to  exaggerate  his 
good  qualities  and  blinded  him  to  his  defects.  He 
has  also  sought  to  add  to  the  renown  of  his  hero  by 
defaming  his  rivals,  a  course  that  is  both  ungenerous 
and  unjust.  Macaulay's  treatment  of  both  Pope  and 
Steele  in  this  essay  is  eminently  unfair,  and  he  weak- 
ens the  effect  of  his  argument  materially  by  his  invec- 
tive. His  method  of  treatment  deprives  his  vrork  of 
much  of  its  critical  value ;  but  if  this  is  borne  in 
mind,  the  student  will  be  prevented  from  forming  an 
incorrect  estimate  of  Addison  as  an  author  and  man, 
while  he  will  be  profoundly  influenced  by  the  wonder- 
ful flow  of  thought,  the  brilliancy  of  diction,  and  the 
breadth  of  allusion  which  characterize  the  essay. 

It  seems  necessary  to  attempt  to  state  here  very 
briefly  the  position  which  Addison  holds  in  the  liter- 
ary history  of  England,  as  an  antidote  to  ^[acaulay's 
somewhat  extravagant  eulogy. 

Johnson  said  of  him:  ''He  thinks  justly,  but  he 
xlvii 


xlviii  INTRODUCTION 

thinks  faintly."  A  careful  study  of  his  works  will 
show  that  he  was  never  a  profound  student,  and  that 
his  judgments,  though  clearly  expressed  and  well 
defined,  were  in  the  main  superficial.  He  lacked 
spontaneity  and  vigor  of  thought,  and  frequently 
seemed  to  expend  his  vitality  in  seeking  smooth 
and  free  expression  rather  than  in  elaborating  his 
subject-matter.  He  added  to  this  a  lack  of  sympathy 
and  imaginative  power,  which  would  have  been  fatal 
to  almost  any  other  species  of  composition  than  that 
in  which  he  was  engaged. 

As  a  poet  Addison  was  distinctly  a  failure.  In  true 
poetic  genius  he  was  utterly  lacking.  At  the  best, 
he  was  but  a  writer  of  political  verses  and  academic 
memoirs.  Had  he  not  come  under  the  influence  of 
Swift  and  Steele  he  would  probably  never  have  been 
known  as  anything  more  than  a  clever  versifier,  and 
would  have  held  no  considerable  place  in  English 
literature. 

The  most  of  his  work,  and  by  far  the  best,  consists 
of  contributions  to  the  periodicals  of  the  day,  which 
his  genius  and  that  of  Steele  have  given  a  high  rank 
in  English  literature.  So  excellent  Avas  this  work  that, 
although  they  have  had  many  followers  and  rivals, 
the  Spectator  SLud'Tatler  have  never  been  equalled  in 
brightness,  humor,  and  literary  merit. 

Macaulay  indulges  in  too  exuberant  praise  of  Addi- 


ESSAY  ON  ADDISON  xlix 

son's  literary  style,  which  is,  indeed,  in  many  ways 
admirable,  but  is  not  by  any  means  above  legitimate 
criticism.  Lord  Lytton  says  that  Addison's  com- 
mand of  expression  was  not  first-rate.  While  his  style 
is  easy  and  flowing,  and  often  highly  polished,  it 
is  frequently  loose  to  the  verge  of  vagueness,  and  is 
lacking  in  strength,  sublimity,  and  vigor.  Johnson 
says,  ''He  was  a  model  of  the  middle  style,  —  always 
equable,  always  easy,  without  glowing  words  or  pointed 
sentences." 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  said  that  elegance  is  the 
ruling  quality  of  xVddison's  style.  To  the  superficial 
harmony  and  smoothness  of  his  sentences  he  sacrifices 
vigor  and  depth  of  thought.  As  a  master  of  this  style 
of  expression  he  is  easily  first ;  but  as  a  vigorous,  keen 
thinker,  a  logical  reasoner,  and  a  careful  student,  he  is 
far  from  deserving  all  the  praise  which  Macaulay  heaps 
upon  him.  Yet,  while  he  cannot  be  placed  in  the  first 
rank  of  English  authors,  he  was  probably  the  greatest 
prose  writer  of  his  age. 


ADDISON » 

{Edinburgh  Heview,  July,  1843) 

Some  reviewers  are  of  opinion  that  a  lady  who  dares 
to  publish  a  book  renounces  by  that  act  the  franchises  ° 
appertaining  to  her  sex,  and  can  claim  no  exemption 
from  the  utmost  rigor  of  critical  procedure.  From 
that  opinion  we  dissent.  We  admit,  indeed,  that  in  a 
country  which  boasts  of  many  female  writers,  emi- 
nently qualified  by  their  talents  and  acquirements  to 
influence  the  public  mind,  it  would  be  of  most  perni- 
cious consequence  that  inaccurate  history  or  unsound 
philosophy  should  be  suffered  to  pass  uncensured,  lo 
merely  because  the  offender  chanced  to  be  a  lady. 
But  we  conceive  that,  on  such  occasions,  a  critic 
would  do  well  to  imitate  the  courteous  Knight  °  who 
found  himself  compelled  by  duty  to  keep  the  lists 

1  The  Life  of  Joseph  Addison.    By  Lucy  Aikin.    2  vols.    8  vo 
London,  l&iS. 

B  1 


2  ADDISON 

against  Bradamante.°  He,  we  are  told,  defended  suc- 
cessfully the  cause  of  whicli  he  was  the  champion: 
but  before  the  fight  began,  exchanged  Balisarda  °  for 
a  less  deadly  sword,  of  which  he  carefully  blunted  the 
point  and  edge. 

Nor  are  the  immunities  of  sex  the  only  immunities 
which  Miss  Aikin  may  rightfully  plead.  Several  of 
her  works,  and  especially  the  very  pleasing  Memoirs 
of  the  Reign  of  James  the  First,  have  fully  entitled 

lo  her  to  the  privileges  enjoyed  by  good  writers.  One  of 
those  privileges  we  hold  to  be  this,  that  such  writers, 
when,  either  from  the  unlucky  choice  of  a  subject,  or 
from  the  indolence  too  often  produced  by  success, 
they  hapx^en  to  fail,  shall  not  be  subjected  to  the 
severe  discipline  which  it  is  sometimes  necessary  to 
inflict  upon  dunces  and  impostors,  but  shall  merely 
be  reminded  by  a  gentle  touch,  like  that  with  which 
the  Laputan  flapper  °  roused  his  dreaming  lord,  that  it 
is  high  time  to  wake. 

20  Our  readers  will  probably  infer  from  what  we  have 
said  that  Miss  Aikin's  book  has  disappointed  us. 
The  truth  is,  that  she  is  not  well  acquainted  with  her 
subject.  No  person  who  is  not  familiar  with  the 
political  and  literary  history  of  England  during  the 
reigns  of  William  the  Third,  of  Anne,  and  of  George 


ADDISON  3 

the  First,  can  possibly  write  a  good  life  of  Addison. 
jSTow,  we  mean  no  reproach  to  Miss  Aikin,  and  many 
will  think  that  we  pay  her  a  compliment,  when  we  say 
that  her  studies  have  taken  a  different  direction.  She 
is  better  acquainted  with  Shakespeare  and  Raleigh, ° 
than  with  Congreve  °  and  Prior  °;  and  is  far  more  at 
home  among  the  ruffs  and  peaked  beards  of  Theo- 
bald's °  than  among  the  Steenkirks  °  and  flowing  peri- 
wigs which  surrounded  Queen  Anne's  tea  table  at 
Hampton.  °  She  seems  to  have  written  about  the  Eliza-  lo 
bethan  age,  because  she  had  read  much  about  it;  she 
seems,  on  the  other  hand,  to  have  read  a  little  about 
the  age  of  Addison,  because  she  had  determined  to 
write  about  it.  The  consequence  is  that  she  has  had 
to  describe  men  and  things  without  having  either  a 
correct  or  a  vivid  idea  of  them,  and  that  she  has  often 
fallen  into  errors  of  a  very  serious  kind.  The  repu- 
tation which  Miss  Aikin  has  justly  earned  stands  so 
high,  and  the  charm  of  Addison's  letters  is  so  great, 
that  a  second  edition  of  this  work  may  probably  be  20 
required.  If  so,  we  hope  that  every  paragraph  will 
be  revised,  and  that  every  date  and  fact  about  which 
there  can  be  the  smallest  doubt  will  be  carefully 
verified. 

To  Addison  himself  we  are  bound  by  a  sentiment 


4  ADDISON 

as  much  like  affection  as  any  sentiment  can  be,  which 
is  inspired  by  one  who  has  been  sleeping  a  hundred 
and  twenty  years  in  Westminster  Abbey.  We  trust, 
however,  that  this  feeling  will  not  betray  us  into  that 
abject  idolatry  which  we  have  often  had  occasion  to 
reprehend  in  others,  and  which  seldom  fails  to  make 
both  the  idolater  and  the  idol  ridiculous.  A  man  of 
genius  and  virtue  is  but  a  man.  All  his  powers  cannot 
be  equally  developed;  nor  can  we  expect  from  him 

CO  perfect  self-knowledge.  We  need  not,  therefore, 
hesitate  to  admit  that  Addison  has  left  us  some  com- 
positions which  do  not  rise  above  mediocrity,  some 
heroic  poems  hardly  equal  to  Parnell's,°  some  criticism 
as  superficial  as  Dr.  Blair's, °  and  a  tragedy  not  very 
much  better  than  Dr.  Johnson's. °  It  is  praise  enough 
to  say  of  a  writer  that,  in  a  high  department  of  litera- 
ture, in  which  many  eminent  writers  have  distin- 
guished themselves,  he  has  had  no  equal;  and  this 
may  with  strict  justice  be  said  of  Addison. 

20  As  a  man,  he  may  not  have  deserved  the  adoration 
which  he  received  from  those  who,  bewitched  by  his 
fascinating  society,  and  indebted  for  all  the  comforts 
of  life  to  his  generous  and  delicate  friendship,  wor- 
shipped him  nightly,  in  his  favorite  temple  at  Button's.  ° 
But,  after  full  inquiry  and  impartial  reflection,  wo 


ADDISON  5 

have  long  been  convinced  that  he  deserved  as  much 
love  and  esteem  as  can  be  justly  claimed  by  any  of  our 
infirm  and  erring  race.  Some  blemishes  may  undoubt- 
edly be  detected  in  his  character ;  but  the  more  care- 
fully it  is  examined,  the  more  will  it  appear,  to  use 
the  phrase  of  the  old  anatomists,  sound  in  the  noble 
parts,  free  from  all  taint  of  perfidy,  of  cowardice,  of 
cruelty,  of  ingratitude,  of  envy.  Men  may  easily  be 
named,  in  whom  some  particular  good  disposition  has 
been  more  conspicuous  than  in  Addison.  But  the  just  lo 
harmony  of  qualities,  the  exact  temper  between  the 
stern  and  the  humane  virtues,  the  habitual  observance 
of  every  law,  not  only  of  moral  rectitude,  but  of  moral 
grace  and  dignity,  distinguish  him  from  all  men  who 
have  been  tried  by  equally  strong  temptations,  and 
about  whose  conduct  we  possess  equally  full  in- 
formation. 

His  father  was  the  Eeverend  Lancelot  Addison, 
who,  though  eclipsed  by  his  more  celebrated  son,  made 
some  figure  in  the  world,  and  occupies  with  credit  two  20 
folio  pages  in  the  Biographia  Britannica.°  Lancelot 
was  sent  up,  as  a  poor  scholar,  from  Westmoreland  to 
Queen's  College,  °  Oxford,  in  the  time  of  the  Common- 
wealth, made  some  progress  in  learning,  became,  like 
most  of  his  fellow  students,  a  violent  Koyalist,  lam- 


6  ADDISON 

pooned  the  heads  of  the  Universit}',  and  was  forced 
to  ask  pardon  on  his  bended  knees.  When  he  had 
left  college,  he  earned  a  humble  subsistence  by  read- 
ing the  liturgy  of  the  fallen  Church  to  the  families  of 
those  sturdy  squires  whose  manor  houses  were  scat- 
tered over  the  Wild  of  Sussex.  °  After  the  Eestoration, 
his  loyalty  was  rewarded  with  the  j)0st  of  chaplain  to 
the  garrison  of  Dunkirk. °  When  Dunkirk  was  sold 
to  France,  he  lost  his  employment.    But  Tangier  °  had 

10  been  ceded  by  Portugal  to  England  as  part  of  the 
marriage  portion  of  the  Infanta °  Catharine;  and  to 
Tangier  Lancelot  Addison  was  sent.  A  more  miser- 
able situation  can  hardly  be  conceived.  It  was  diffi- 
cult to  say  whether  the  unfortunate  settlers  were 
more  tormented  by  the  heats  or  by  the  rains,  by  the 
soldiers  within  the  wall  or  by  the  Moors  without  it. 
One  advantage  the  chaplain  had.  He  enjoyed  an  ex- 
cellent opportunity  of  studying  the  history  and  man- 
ners of  Jews  and  Mahometans ;  and  of  this  opportunity 

20  he  appears  to  have  made  excellent  use.  On  his  return 
to  England,  after  some  years  of  banishment,  he  pub- 
lished an  interesting  volume  on  the  Polity  and  Reli- 
gion of  Barbary,  and  another  on  the  Hebrew  Customs 
and  the  State  of  Rabbinical  learning.  He  rose  to 
eminence  in  his  profession,  and  became  one  of  the 


ADDISON  7 

royal  chaplains,  a  Doctor  of  Divinity,  Archdeacon  of 
Salisbury,  and  Dean  of  Lichfield.  It  is  said  that  he 
would  have  been  made  a  bishop  after  the  Revolution, 
if  he  had  not  given  offence  to  the  government  by 
strenuously  opposing,  in  the  Convocation  of  1689,  the 
liberal  policy  of  William  and  Tillotson." 

In  1672,  not  long  after  Dr.  Addison's  return  from 
Tangier,  his  son  Joseph  was  born.  Of  Joseph's 
childhood  we  know  little.  He  learned  his  rudiments 
at  schools  in  his  father's  neighborhood,  and  was  then  lo 
sent  to  the  Charter  House. °  The  anecdotes  which  are 
popularly  related  about  his  boyish  tricks  do  not  har- 
monize very  well  with  what  we  know  of  his  riper 
years.  There  remains  a  tradition  that  he  was  the 
ringleader  in  a  barring  out,  and  another  tradition  that 
he  ran  away  from  school  and  hid  himself  in  a  wood, 
where  he  fed  on  berries  and  slept  in  a  hollow  tree,  till 
after  a  long  search  he  was  discovered  and  brought 
home.  If  these  stories  be  true,  it  would  be  curious 
to  know  by  what  moral  discipline  so  mutinous  and  20 
enterprising  a  lad  was  transformed  into  the  gentlest 
and  most  modest  of  men. 

AVe  have  abundant  proof  that,  whatever  Joseph's 
pranks  may  have  been,  he  pursued  his  studies  vigor- 
ously and  successfully.     At  fifteen  he  was  not  only 


8  ADDISON 

fit  for  the  university,  but  carried  thither  a  classical 
taste  and  a  stock  of  learning  which  would  have  done 
honor  to  a  Master  of  Arts.  He  was  entered  at  Queen's 
College,  Oxford ;  but  he  had  not  been  many  months 
there,  when  some  of  his  Latin  verses  fell  by  accident 
into  the  hands  of  Dr.  Lancaster,  Dean  of  Magdalene 
College.  °  The  young  scholar's  diction  and  versifica- 
tion were  already  such  as  veteran  professors  might 
envy.     Dr.  Lancaster  was  desirous  to  serve  a  boy  of 

10 such  promise;  nor  was  an  opportunity  long  wanting. 
The  Eevolution  had  just  taken  place;  and  nowhere 
had  it  been  hailed  with  more  delight  than  at  Magda- 
lene College.  That  great  and  opulent  corporation  had 
been  treated  by  James,  and  by  his  Chancellor,^  with 
an  insolence  and  injustice  which,  even  in  such  a 
Prince  and  in  such  a  Minister,  may  justly  excite 
amazement,  and  which  had  done  more  than  even  the 
prosecution  of  the  Bishops  to  alienate  the  Church  of 
England  from  the  throne.    A  president,  °  duly  elected, 

20 had  been  violently  expelled  from  his  dwelling:  a 
Papist °  had  been  set  over  the  society  by  a  royal  man- 
date: the  Fellows  who,  in  conformity  with  their 
oaths,  had  refused  to  submit  to  this  usurper,  had  been 
dris^en  forth  from  their  quiet  cloisters  and  gardens,  to 
die  of  want  or  to  live  on  charity.     But  the  day  of  re- 


ADDISON  9 

dress  and  retribution  speedily  came.  The  intruders 
were  ejected:  the  venerable  House  was  again  inhab- 
ited by  its  old  inmates :  learning  flourished  under  the 
rule  of  the  wise  and  virtuous  Hough;  and  with  learn- 
ing was  united  a  mild  and  liberal  spirit  teo  often 
wanting  in  the  princely  colleges  of  Oxford.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  troubles  through  which  the  society 
had  passed,  there  had  been  no  valid  election  of  new 
members  during  the  year  1688.  In  1689,  therefore, 
there  was  twice  the  ordinary  number  of  vacancies;  and  lo 
thus  Dr.  Lancaster  found  it  easy  to  procure  for  his 
young  friend  admittance  to  the  advantages  of  a  foun- 
dation then  generally  esteemed  the  wealthiest  in 
Europe. 

At  Magdalene  Addison  resided  during  ten  years. 
He  was,  at  first,  one  of  those  scholars  who  are  called 
Demies,  °  but  was  subsequently  elected  a  Fellow.  His 
college  is  still  proud  of  his  name :  his  portrait  still 
hangs  in  the  hall ;  and  strangers  are  still  told  that  his 
favorite  walk  was  under  the  elms  which  fringe  the  2c 
meadow  on  the  banks  of  the  Cherwell.  It  is  said, 
and  is  highly  probable,  that  he  was  distinguished 
among  his  fellow  students  by  the  delicacy  of  his  feel- 
ings, by  the  shyness  of  his  manners,  and  by  the  as- 
siduity with  which  he  often  prolonged  his  studies  far 


10  ADDISON 

into  the  night.  It  is  certain  that  his  reputation  for 
ability  and  learning  stood  high.  Many  years  later, 
the  ancient  doctors  of  Magdalene  continued  to  talk 
in  their  common  room  of  his  boyish  compositions,  and 
expressed  their  sorrow  that  no  copy  of  exercises  so 
remarkable  had  been  preserved. 

It  is  proper,  however,  to  remark  that  Miss  Aikin 
has  committed  the  error,  very  pardonable  in  a  lady, 
of   overrating   Addison's  classical  attainments.      In 

10  one  department  of  learning,  indeed,  his  proficiency 
was  such  as  it  is  hardly  possible  to  overrate.  His 
knowledge  of  the  Latin  poets,  from  Lucretius  °  and 
Catullus  °  down  to  Claudian  °  and  Prudentius,  °  was 
singularly  exact  and  profound.  He  understood  them 
thoroughly,  entered  into  their  spirit,  and  had  the 
finest  and  most  discriminating  perception  of  all  their 
peculiarities  of  style  and  melody;  nay,  he  copied 
their  manner  with  admirable  skill,  and  surpassed,  we 
think,  all  their  British  imitators  who  had  preceded 

20  him,  Buchanan  °  and  Milton  alone  excepted.  This  is 
high  praise;  and  beyond  this  we  cannot  with  justice 
go.  It  is  clear  that  Addison's  serious  attention  during 
his  residence  at  the  university,  was  almost  entirely 
concentrated  on  Latin  poetry,  and  that,  if  he  did  not 
wholly  neglect  other  provinces  of  ancient  literature, 


ADDISON  11 

he  vouchsafed  to  them  only  a  cursory  glance.  He 
does  not  appear  to  have  attained  more  than  an  ordi- 
nary acquaintance  with  the  political  and  moral  writ- 
ers of  Eome ;  nor  was  his  own  Latin  prose  by  any  means 
equal  to  his  Latin  verse.  His  knowledge  of  Greek, 
though  doubtless  such  as  was,  in  his  time,  thought 
respectable  at  Oxford,  was  evidently  less  than  that 
which  many  lads  now  carry  away  every  year  from 
Eton  and  Eugby.  A  minute  examination  of  his 
works,  if  we  had  time  to  make  such  an  examination,  lo 
would  fully  bear  out  these  remarks.  We  will  briefly 
advert  to  a  few  of  the  facts  on  which  our  judgment  is 
grounded. 

Great  praise  is  due  to  the  Xotes  which  Addison  ap- 
pended to  his  version  of  the  second  and  third  books 
of  the  Metamorphoses. °  Yet  those  notes,  while  they 
show  him  to  have  been,  in  his  own  domain,  an  accom- 
plished scholar,  show  also  how  confined  that  domain 
was.  They  are  rich  in  apposite  references  to  Virgil, 
Statins,  °  and  Claudian ;  but  they  contain  not  a  single  20 
illustration  drawn  from  the  Greek  poets.  iS^ow,  if, 
in  the  whole  compass  of  Latin  literature,  there  be  a 
passage  which  stands  in  need  of  illustration  drawn 
from  the  Greek  poets,  it  is  the  story  of  Pentheus  °  in 
the  third  book  of  the  Metamorphoses.     Ovid  was  in- 


12  ADDISON 

debted  for  that  story  to  Euripides  °  and  Theocritus/ 
both  of  whom  he  has  sometimes  followed  minutely. 
But  neither  to  Euripides  nor  to  Theocritus  does  Addi- 
son make  the  faintest  allusion;  and  we,  therefore, 
believe  that  we  do  not  wrong  him  by  supposing  that 
he  had  little  or  no  knowledge  of  their  works. 

His  travels  in  Italy,  again,  abound  with  classical 
quotations  happily  introduced;  but  scarcely  one  of 
those  quotations  is  in  prose.     He  draws  more  illustra- 

10  tions  from  Ausonius  °  and  Manilius  °  than  from  Cicero. 
Even  his  notions  of  the  political  and  military  affairs 
of  the  Roinans  seem  to  be  derived  from  poets  and 
poetasters.  Spots  made  memorable  by  events  which 
have  changed  the  destinies  of  the  world,  and  which 
have  been  worthily  recorded  by  great  historians,  bring 
to  his  mind  only  scraps  of  some  ancient  versifier.  In 
the  gorge  of  the  Apennines  he  naturally  remembers 
the  hardships  which  Hannibal's  army  endured,  and 
proceeds  to  cite,  not  the  authentic  narrative  of  Polyb- 

2oius,°  not  the  picturesque  narrative  of  Livy,°  but  the 
languid  hexameters  of  Silius  Italicus.°  On  the  banks 
of  the  Rubicon  he  never  thinks  of  Plutarch's  °  lively 
description,  or  of  the  stern  conciseness  of  the  Com- 
mentaries, or  of  those  letters  to  Atticus  °  which  so 
forcibly  express  the  alternations  of  hope  and  fear  in  a 


ADDISON  13 

sensitive  mind  at  a  great  crisis.     His  only  authority 
for  the  events  of  the  civil  war  is  Lucan.° 

All  the  best  ancient  works  of  art  at  Rome  and  Flor- 
ence are  Greek.  Addison  saw  them,  however,  without 
recalling  one  single  verse  of  Pindar,  °  of  Callimachus,° 
or  of  the  Attic  dramatists ;  but  they  brought  to  his 
recollection  innumerable  passages  of  Horace,  °  Juve- 
nal, °  Statins,  and  Ovid. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  Treatise  on  Medals. 
In  that  pleasing  work  we  find  about  three  hundred  lo 
passages  extracted  with  great  judgment  from  the 
Roman  poets ;  but  we  do  not  recollect  a  single  passage 
taken  from  any  Roman  orator  or  historian;  and  we 
are  confident  that  not  a  line  is  quoted  from  any  Greek 
writer.  No  person,  who  had  derived  all  his  informa- 
tion on  the  subject  of  medals  from  Addison,  would 
suspect  that  the  Greek  coins  were  in  historical  interest  ' 
equal,  and  in  beauty  of  execution  far  superior,  to 
those  of  Rome. 

If  it  were  necessa^ry  to  find  any  further  proof  that  20 
Addison's  classical  knowledge  was  confined  Avithin 
narrow  limits,  that  proof  would  be  furnished  by  his 
Essay  on  the  Evidences  of  Christianity.  The  Roman 
poets  throw  little  or  no  light  on  the  literary  and  his- 
torical questions  which  he  is  under  the  necessity  of 


14  ADDISON 

examining  in  that  Essay.  He  is,  therefore,  left  com- 
pletely in  the  dark ;  and  it  is  melancholy  to  see  how 
helplessly  he  gropes  his  way  from  blunder  to  blunder. 
He  assigns,  as  grounds  for  his  religious  belief,  stories 
as  absurd  as  that  of  the  Cock-Lane  ghost,°  and  forgeries 
as  rank  as  Ireland's  Vortigern,°  puts  faith  in  the  lie 
about  the  Thundering  Legion,°  is  convinced  that  Tibe- 
rius moved  the  senate  to  admit  Jesus  among  the  gods, 
and  pronounces  the  letter  of  Agbarus°  King  of  Edessa 

y.oto  be  a  record  of  great  authority.  Nor  were  these 
errors  the  effects  of  superstition ;  for  to  superstition 
Addison  was  by  no  means  prone.  The  truth  is  that  he 
was  writing  about  what  he  did  not  understand. 

Miss  Aikin  has  discovered  a  letter  from  which  it 
appears  that,  while  Addison  resided  at  Oxford,  he  was 
one  of  the  several  writers  whom  the  booksellers  en- 
gaged to  make  an  English  version  of  Herodotus ;  and 
she  infers  that  he  must  have  been  a  good  Greek  scholar. 
We  can  allow  very  little  weight  to  this   argument, 

20  when  we  consider  that  his  fellow-laborers  were  to  have 
been  Boyle  °  and  Blackmore.°  Boyle  is  remembered 
chiefly  as  the  nominal  author  of  the  worst  book  on 
Greek  history  and  philology  that  ever  was  printed; 
and  this  book,  bad  as  it  is,  Boyle  was  unable  to  produce 
without  help.     Of   Blackmore's   attainments  Ib    the 


ADDISON  15 

ancient  tongues,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  say  that,  in  his 
prose  he  has  confounded  an  aphorism  with  an  apoph- 
thegm, and  that  when,  in  his  verse,  he  treats  of 
classical  subjects,  his  habit  is  to  regale  his  readers 
with  four  false  quantities  to  a  page. 

It  is  probable  that  the  classical  acquirements  of 
Addison  were  of  as  much  service  to  him  as  if  they  had 
been  more  extensive.  The  world  generally  gives  its 
admiration,  not  to  the  man  who  does  what  nobody  else 
even  attempts  to  do,  but  to  the  man  who  does  best  lo 
what  multitudes  do  well.  Bentley  °  was  so  immeasu- 
rably superior  to  all  the  other  scholars  of  his  time  that 
.few  among  them  could  discover  his  superiority.  But 
the  accomplishment  in  which  Addison  excelled  his 
contemporaries  was  then,  as  it-  is  now,  highly  valued 
and  assiduously  cultivated  at  all  English  seats  of  learn- 
ing. Everybody  who  had  been  at  a  public  school  had 
written  Latin  verses ;  many  had  written  such  v-erses 
w^th  tolerable  success,  and  were  quite  able  to  appre- 
ciate, though  by  no  means  able  to  rival,  the  skill  with  20 
which  Addison  imitated  Virgil.  His  lines  on  the  Ba- 
rometer °  and  the  Bowling  Green  °  were  applauded  by 
hundreds,  to  whom  the  Dissertation  on  the  Epistles 
of  Phalaris  °  was  as  unintelligible  as  the  hieroglyphics 
on  an  obelisk. 


16  ADDISON 

Purity  Oi  style,  and  an  easy  flow  of  numbers,  are 
common  to  all  Addison's  Latin  poems.  Our  favorite 
piece  is  the  Battle  of  tlie  Cranes  and  Pygmies ;  for  in 
that  piece  we  discern  a  gleam  of  the  fancy  and  humor 
which  many  years  later  enlivened  thousands  of  break- 
fast tables.  Swift  boasted  that  he  was  never  known 
to  steal  a  hint ;  and  he  certainly  owed  as  little  to  his 
predecessors  as  any  modern  writer.  Yet  we  cannot 
help  suspecting  that  he  borrowed,  perhaps  uncon- 
losciously,  one  of  the  hapi)iest  touches  in  his  Voyages 
to  Lilliput  from  Addison's  verses.  Let  our  readers 
judge. 

"The  Emperor,"  says  Gulliver,  "is  taller  by  about, 
the  breadth  of  my  nail  than  any  of  his  court,  which 
alone  is  enough  to  strike  an  awe  into  the  beholders." 

About  thirty  years  before  Gulliver's  Travels  ap- 
peared, Addison  wrote  these  lines : 

"  Jamque  acies  inter  medias  sese  arduus  infert 
Pygmeadum  ductor,  qui,  raajestate  verendus, 
20  Incessuque  gravis,  reliquos  superemiuet  omues 

Mole  gigautea,  mediamque  exsurgit  in  uluam."  ° 

The  Latin  poems  of  Addison  were  greatly  and  justly 
admired  both  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  before  his 
name  had  ever  been  heard  by  the  wits  Avho  thronged 
the  coffee-houses  round  Drury  Lane  theatre."     In  his 


ADDISON  17 

twenty-second  year,  he  ventured  to  appear  before  the 
public  as  a  writer  of  English  verse.  He  addressed 
some  complimentary  lines  to  Dryden,°  wlio,  after  many 
triumphs  and  many  reverses,  had  at  length  reached  a 
secure  and  lonely  eminence  among  the  literary  men  of 
that  age.  Dryden  appears  to  have  been  much  gratified 
by  the  young  scholar's  praise;  and  an  interchange 
of  civilities  and  good  offices  followed.  Addison  was 
probably  introduced  by  Dryden  to  Congreve,°  and 
was  .  certainly  presented  by  Congreve  to  Charles  Mon-  lo 
tague,°  who  was  then  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  and 
leader  of  the  Whig  party  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

At  this  time  Addison  seemed  inclined  to  devote 
himself  to  poetry.  He  published  a  translation  of  part 
of  the  fourth  Georgic,  Lines  to  King  William,  and 
other  performances  of  equal  value,  that  is  to  say,  of 
no  value  at  all.  But  in  those  days,  the  public  was 
in  the  habit  of  receiving  with  applause  pieces  which 
would  now  have  little  chance  of  obtaining  the  Xewdi- 
gate  prize  °  or  the  Seatonian  prize.°  And  the  reason  20 
is  obvious.  The  heroic  couplet  °  was  then  the  favorite 
measure.  The  art  of  arranging  words  in  that  measure, 
so  that  the  lines  may  flow  smoothly,  that  the  accents 
may  fall  correctly,  that  the  rhymes  may  strike  the  ear 
strongly,  and  that  there  may  be  a  pause  at  the  end  of 


18  ADDISON 

every  distich,  is  an  art  as  mechanical  as  that  of  mend- 
ing a  kettle  or  shoeing  a  horse,  and  may  be  learned 
by  any  human  being  who  has  sense  enough  to  learn. 
But,  like  other  mechanical  arts,  it  was  gradually 
improved  by  means  of  many  experiments  and  many 
failures.  It  was  reserved  for  Pope  to  discover  the 
trick,  to  make  himself  complete  master  of  it,  and  to 
teach  it  to  everybody  else.  From  the  time  when  his 
Pastorals    appeared,    heroic    versification    became    a 

10 matter  of  rule  and  compass;  and,  before  long,  all 
artists  were  on  a  level.  Hundreds  of  dunces  who 
never  blundered  on  one  happy  thought  or  expression 
were  able  to  write  reams  of  couplets  which,  as  far  as 
euphony  was  concerned,  could  not  be  distinguished 
from  those  of  Pope  himself,  and  which  very  clever 
writers  of  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second,  Rochester,® 
for  example,  or  Marvel,°  or  Oldham,"  would  have  con- 
templated with  admiring  despair. 

Ben  Jonson°  was  a  great  man,  Hoole®  a  very  small 

.20  man.  But  Hoole,  coming  after  Pope,  had  learned  how 
to  manufacture  decasyllabic  verses,  and  poured  them 
forth  by  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands,  all  as  well 
turned,  as  smooth,  and  as  like  each  other  as  the  blocks 
which  have  passed  through  Mr.  Brunei's  °  mill  in  the 
dockyard  at  Portsmouth.     Ben's  heroic  couplets  resem- 


ADDISON  19 

ble  blocks  rudely  hewn  out  by  an  unpractised  hand 
with  a  blunt  hatchet.  Take  as  a  specimen  his  trans- 
lation of  a  celebrated  passage  in  the  .Eneid  : 

"  This  child  our  parent  earth,  stirred  up  with  spite 
Of  all  the  gods,  brought  forth,  and,  as  some  write, 
She  was  last  sister  of  that  giant  race 
That  sought  to  scale  Jove's  court,  right  swift  of  pace, 
And  swifter  far  of  wing,  a  monster  vast 
And  dreadful.    Look,  how  many  plumes  are  placed 
On  her  huge  corpse,  so  many  waking  eyes 
Stick  underneath,  and,  which  may  stranger  rise 
In  the  report,  as  many  tongues  she  wears." 

Compare  with  these  jagged  misshapen  distichs  the 
neat  fabric  which  Hoole's  machine  produces  in  unlim- 
ited abimdance.  We  take  thft  first  lines  on  which  we 
open  in  his  version  of  Tasso.°  They  are  neither  better 
nor  worse  than  the  rest : 

"  O  thou,  whoe'er  thou  art,  whose  steps  are  led, 
By  choice  or  fate,  these  lonely  shores  to  tread. 
No  greater  wonders  east  or  west  can  boast 
Than  yon  small  island  on  the  pleasing  coast. 
If  e'er  thy  sight  would  blissful  sceues  exjilore, 
The  current  pass,  and  seek  the  further  shore." 

Ever  since  the  time  of  Pope  there  has  been  a  glut 
of  lines  of  this  sort,  and  we  are  now  as  little  disposed 
to  admire  a  man  for  being  able  to  write  them,  as  for 


20  ADDISON 

being  able  to  write  his  name.  But  in  the  days  of 
William  the  Third  such  versification  Avas  rare ;  and  a 
rhymer  who  had  any  skill  in  it  passed  for  a  great  poet, 
just  as  in  the  dark  ages  a  person  who  could  write  his 
name  passed  for  a  great  clerk.  Accordingly,  Duke,° 
Stepney,°  Granville,°  Walsh,°  and  others,  whose  only 
title  to  fame  was  that  they  said  in  tolerable  metre  what 
might  have  been  as  well  said  in  prose,  or  what  was 
not  worth  saying  at  all,  were  honored  with  marks  of 

I o  distinction  which  ought  to  be  reserved  for  genius. 
With  these  Addison  must  have  ranked,  if  he  had  not 
earned  true  and  lasting  glory  by  performances  which 
very  little  resembled  his  juvenile  poems. 

Dry  den  was  now  busied  with  Virgil,  and  obtained 
from  Addison  a  critical  preface  to  the  Georgics.  In 
return  for  this  service,  and  for  other  services  of  the 
same  kind,  the  veteran  poet,  in  the  postscript  to  the 
translation  of  the  ^neid,  complimented  his  young 
friend  with  great  liberality,  and  indeed  with  more  lib- 

20  erality  than  sincerity.  He  affected  to  be  afraid  that 
his  own  performance  would  not  sustain  a  comparison 
with  the  version  of  the  fourth  Georgic,  by  "  the  most 
ingenious  Mr.  Addison  of  Oxford."  "  After  his  bees,"  ° 
added  Dryden,  "my  latter  swarm  is  scarcely  worth 
the  hiving." 


ADDISON  21 

The  time  had  now  arrived  when  it  was  necessary 
for  Addison  to  choose  a  calling.  Everything  seemed 
to  point  his  course  towards  the  clerical  profession. 
His  habits  were  regular,  his  opinions  orthodox.  His 
college  had  large  ecclesiastical  preferment  in  its  gift;, 
and  boasts  that  it  has  given  at  least  one  bishop  to 
almost  every  see  in  England.  Dr.  Lancelot  Addison 
held  an  honorable  place  in  the  Church,  and  had  set  his 
heart  on  seeing  his  son  a  clergyman.  It  is  clear,  from 
some  expressions  in  the  young  man's  rhymes,  that  his  lo 
intention  was  to  take  orders.  But  Charles  ^fontague 
interfered.  Montague  had  first  brought  himself  into 
notice  by  verses,  well  timed  and  not  contemptibly 
written,  but  never,  we  think,  rising  above  mediocrity. 
Fortunately  for  himself  and  for  his  country,  he  early 
quitted  poetry,  in  which  he  could  never  have  attained 
a  rank  as  high  as  that  of  Dorset  °  or  Eochester,  and 
turned  his  mind  to  official  and  parliamentary  business. 
It  is  written  that  the 'ingenious  person  who  undertook 
to  instruct  Kasselas,°  prince  of  Abyssinia,  in  the  art  of  20 
flying,  ascended  an  eminence,  waved  his  wings,  sprang 
into  the  air,  and  instantly  dropped  into  the  lake.  But 
it  is  added  that  the  wings,  which  were  unable  to  sup- 
port him  through  the  sky,  bore  him  up  effectually  as 
soon  as  he  was  in  the  water.     This  is  no  bad  type  of 


22  ADDISON 

the  fate  of  Charles  Montague,  and  of  men  like  him. 
When  he  attempted  to  soar  into  the  regions  of  poetical 
invention,  he  altogether  failed  ;  but,  as  soon  as  he  had 
descended  from  that  ethereal  elevation  into  a  lower 
and  grosser  element,  his  talents  instantly  raised  him 
above  the  mass.  He  became  a  distinguished  financier, 
debater,  courtier,  and  party  leader.  He  still  retained 
his  fondness  for  the  pursuits  of  his  early  days ;  but 
he  showed  that  fondness  not  by  wearying  the  public 

10  with  his  own  feeble  performances,  but  by  discovering 
and  encouraging  literary  excellence  in  others.  A 
crowd  of  wits  and  poets,  who  would  easily  have  van- 
quished him  as  a  competitor,  revered  him  as  a  judge 
and  a  patron.  In  his  plans  for  the  encouragement  of 
learning,  he  was  cordially  supported  by  the  ablest  and 
most  virtuous  of  his  colleagues,  Lord  Chancellor  Som- 
ers.°  Though  both  these  great  statesmen  had  a  sincere 
love  of  letters,  it  was  not  solely  from  a  love  of  letters 
that  they  were  desirous  to  enlist  youths  of  high  intel- 

20  lectual  qualifications  in  the  public  service.  The  Eev- 
olution  had  altered  the  whole  system  of  government. 
Before  that  event  the  press  had  been  controlled  by 
censors,  and  the  Parliament  had  sat  only  two  months 
in  eight  years.  Now  the  press  was  free,  and  had 
begun  to  exercise  unprecedented  influence  on  the  pub- 


ADDISON  23 

lie  mind.  Parliament  met  annually  and  sat  long.  The 
chief  power  in  the  State  had  passed  to  the  House  of 
Commons.  At  such  a  conjuncture,  it  was  natural  that 
literary  and  oratorical  talents  should  rise  in  value. 
There  was  danger  that  a  government  which  neglected 
such  talents  might  be  subverted  by  them.  It  was, 
therefore,  a  profound  and  enlightened  policy  which 
led  Montague  and  Somers  to  attach  such  talents  to  the 
Whig  party,  by  the  strongest  ties  both  of  interest  and 
of  gratitude.  jo 

It  is  remarkable  that  in  a  neighboring  country,  we 
have  recently  seen  similar  effects  follow  from  similar 
causes.  The  revolution  of  July,  1830,  established 
representative  government  in  France.  The  men  of 
letters  instantly  rose  to  the  highest  importance  in  the 
State.  At  the  present  moment  most  of  the  persons 
whom  we  see  at  the  head  both  of  the  Administration 
and  of  the  Opposition,  have  been  Professors,  His- 
torians, Journalists,  Poets.  The  influence  of  the 
literary  class  in  England,  during  the  generations  20 
which  followed  the  Kevolution,  was  great,  but  by  no 
means  so  great  as  it  has  lately  been  in  France.  For, 
in  England,  the  aristocracy  of  intellect  had  to  contend 
with  a  powerful  and  deeply  rooted  aristocracy  of  a 
very  different  kind.     Fiance  had  no  Somersets    and 


24  ADDISON 

Shre^vsbiiries  to  keep  down  her  Addisoiis  and  Priors.° 
It  was  in  the  year  1699,  when  Addison  had  just 
completed  his  twenty-seventh  year,  that  the  course  of 
his  life  was  finally  determined.  Both  the  great  chiefs  ° 
of  the  Ministry  were  kindly  disposed  towards  him.  In 
political  opinions  he  already  was  what  he  continued  to 
be  through  life,  a  firm,  though  a  moderate  Whig.  He 
had  addressed  the  most  polished  and  vigorous  of  his 
early  English  lines  to  Somers,  and  had  dedicated  to 

10  Montague  a  Latin  poem,  truly  Virgilian,  both  in  style 
and  rhythm,  on  the  peace  of  E,yswick.°  The  wish  of 
the  young  poet's  great  friends  was,  it  should  seem,  to 
employ  him  in  the  service  of  the  crown  abroad.  But 
an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  French  language  was  a 
qualification  indispensable  to  a  diplomatist ;  and  this 
qualification  Addison  had  not  acquired.  It  was,  there- 
fore, thought  desirable  that  he  should  pass  some  time 
on  the  Continent  in  preparing  himself  for  official  em- 
ployment.    His  own  means  were  not  such  as  would 

2o  enable  him  to  travel :  but  a  pension  of  three  hundred 
pounds  a  year  was  procured  for  him  by  the  interest 
of  the  Lord  Chancellor.  It  seems  to  have  been 
apprehended  that  some  difficulty  might  be  started 
by  the  rulers  of  Magdalene  College.  But  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer  wrote  in  the  strongest  terms 


ADDIS  ox  25 

to  Hough.  The  State  —  such  was  the  purport  of 
^Montague's  letter  —  couhl  not,  at  that  time,  spare  to 
the  Church  such  a  man  as  Addison.  Too  many  high 
civil  posts  were  already  occupied  by  adventurers, 
who,  destitute  of  every  liberal  art  and  sentiment,  at 
once  pillaged  and  disgraced  the  country  which  they 
pretended  to  serve.  It  had  become  necessary  to 
recruit  for  the  public  service  from  a  very  different 
class,  from  that  class  of  which  Addison  was  the  repre- 
sentative. The  close  of  the  ^linister's  letter  was  lo 
remarkable.  '•!  am  called,"  he  said,  '-an  enemy  of 
the  Church.  But  I  will  never  do  it  any  other  injury 
than  keeping  ^Ir.  Addison  out  of  it." 

This  interference  was  successful ;  and,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1099.  Addison,  made  a  rich  man  hy  his  x:)ension, 
and  still  retaining  his  fellowship,  quitted  his  beloved 
Oxford,  and  set  out  on  his  travels.  He  crossed  from 
Dover  to  Calais,  proceeded  to  Paris,  and  was  received 
there  with  great  kindness  and  politeness  by  a  kinsman 
of  his  friend  Montague,  Charles,  Earl  of  Manchester,  20 
who  had  just  been  appointed  Ambassador  to  the  Court 
of  France.  The  Countess,  a  Whig  and  a  toast,°  Avas 
probably  as  gracious  as  her  lord :  for  Addison  long 
retained  an  agreeable  recollection  of  the  impression 
which  she  at  this  time  made  on  him,  and,  in  some 


26  ADDISON 

lively  lines  written  on  the  glasses  of  the  Kit  Cat  Club,° 
described  the  envy  which  her  cheeks,  glowing  with 
the  genuine  bloom  of  England,  had  excited  among  the 
painted  beauties  of  Versailles. 

Lewis  the  Fourteenth  was  at  this  time  expiating  the 
vices  of  his  youth  by  a  devotion  which  had  no  root  in 
reason,  and  bore  no  fruit  of  charity.  The  servile 
literature  of  France  had  changed  its  character  to  suit 
the  changed  character  of  the  prince.      No  book   ap- 

10  peared  that  had  not  an  air  of  sanctity.  E,acine,°  who 
was  just  dead,  had  passed  the  close  of  his  life  in 
writing  sacred  dramas ;  and  Dacier  °  was  seeking  for 
the  Athanasian  mysteries  in  Plato.  Addison  de- 
scribed this  state  of  things  in  a  short  but  lively  and 
graceful  letter  to  Montague.  Another  letter,  written 
about  the  same  time  to  the  Lord  Chancellor,  conveyed 
the  strongest  assurances  of  gratitude  and  attachment. 
"  The  only  return  I  can  make  to  your  Lordship,"  said 
Addison,   ''will  be  to  apply  myself  entirely  to  my 

20  business."  With  this  view  he  quitted  Paris  and 
repaired  to  Blois,°  a  place  where  it  was  supposed 
that  the  French  language  was  spoken  in  its  highest 
purity,  and  where  not  a  single  Englishman  could  be 
found.  Here  he  passed  some  months  pleasantly  and 
profitably.     Of  his  way  of  life  at  Blois,  one  of  his 


ADDISON  27 

associates,  an  Abbe  named  Philippeaux,  gave  an 
account  to  Joseph  Spence.°  If  this  account  is  to  be 
trusted,  Addison  studied  much,  mused  much,  talked 
little,  had  fits  of  absence,  and  either  had  no  love 
affairs,  or  was  too  discreet  to  confide  them  to  the 
Abbe.  A  man  who,  even  when  surrounded  by  fellow- 
countrymen  and  fellow -students,  had  always  been 
remarkably  shy  and  silent,  was  not  likely  to  be 
loquacious  in  a  foreign  tongue,  and  among  foreign 
companions.  But  it  is  clear  from  Addison's  letters,  lo 
some  of  which  were  long  after  published  in  the 
Guardian,°  that,  while  he  appeared  lo  be  absorbed 
in  his  own  meditations,  he  was  really  observing 
French  society  with  that  keen  and  sly,  yet  not  ill- 
natured  side  glance,  which  was  peculiarly  his  own. 
From  Blois  he  returned  to  Paris ;  and,  having  now 
mastered  the  French  language,  found  great  pleasure 
in  the  society  of  French  philosophers  and  poets. 
He  gave  an  account,  in  a  letter  to  Bishop  Hough, 
of  two  highly  interesting  conversations,  one  with  20 
Malbranche,°  the  other  with  Boileau.°  Malbranche 
expressed  great  partiality  for  the  English,  and  ex- 
tolled the  genius  of  Kewton,°  but  shook  his  head  when 
Hobbes  °  was  mentioned,  and  was  indeed  so  unjust 
as  to  call  the  author  of  the  Leviathan  a  poor  silly 


28  ADDISON 

creature.  Addison's  modesty  restrained  him  from 
fully  relating,  in  his  letter,  the  circumstances  of  his 
introduction  to  Boileau.  Boileau,  having  survived  the 
friends  and  rivals  of  his  youth,  old,  deaf,  and  melan- 
choly, lived  in  retirement,  seldom  went  either  to  Court 
or  to  the  Academy,°  and  was  almost  inaccessible  to 
strangers.  Of  the  English,  and  of  English  literature 
he  knew  nothing.  He  had  hardly  heard  the  name  of 
Dryden.     Some  of  our  countrymen,  in  the  warmth  of 

lo  their  patriotism,  have  asserted  that  this  ignorance  must 
have  been  affected.  We  own  that  we  see  no  ground 
for  such  a  supposition.  English  literature  was  to  the 
Erench  of  the  age  of  Lewis  the  Fourteenth  what 
German  literature  was  to  our  own  grandfathers. 
Very  few,  we  suspect,  of  the  accomplished  men  who, 
sixty  or  seventy  years  ago,  used  to  dine  in  Leicester 
Square  with  Sir  Joshua,°  or  at  Streatham  with  Mrs. 
Thrale,°  had  the  slightest  notion  that  Wieland°  was 
one  of  the  first  wits  and  poets,  and  Lessing,°  beyond 

20  all  dispute,  the  first  critic  in  Europe.  Boileau  knew 
just  as  little  about  the  Paradise  Lost,  and  about 
Absalom  and  Ahitophel  ° ;  but  he  had  read  Addison's 
Latin  poems,  and  admired  them  greatly.  They  had 
given  him,  he  said,  quite  a  new  notion  of  the  state  of 
learning  and  taste  among  the  English.     Johnson  will 


ADDISON  29 

have  it  that  these  praises  were  insincere.  "Nothing," 
says  he,  "  is  better  known  of  Boilean  than  that  he  had 
an  injudicious  and  peevish  contempt  of  modern  Latin; 
and  therefore  his  profession  of  regard  was  probably 
the  effect  of  his  civility  rather  than  approbation." 
Xow,  nothing  is  better  known  of  Boileau,  than  that  he 
Avas  singularly  sparing  of  compliments.  We  do  not 
remember  that  either  friendship  or  fear  ever  induced 
him  to  bestow  praise  on  any  composition  which  he  did 
not  approve.  On  literary  questions,  his  caustic,  dis-  lo 
dainful,  and  self-coniident  spirit  rebelled  against  that 
authority  to  which  everything  else  in  France  bowed 
down.  He  had  the  spirit  to  tell  Lewis  the  Fourteenth, 
firmly  and  even  rudely,  that  his  Majesty  knew  nothing 
about  poetry,  and  admired  verses  which  were  detesta- 
ble. AYhat  was  there  in  Addison's  position  that  could 
induce  the  satirist,  whose  stern  and  fastidious  temper 
had  been  the  dread  of  two  generations,  to  turn  syco- 
phant for  the  first  and  last  time  ?  Xo:-  was  Boileau's 
contempt  of  modern  Latin  either  injudicious  or  peevish.  20 
He  thought,  indeed,  that  no  poem  of  the  first  order 
would  ever  be  written  in  a  dead  language.  And  did 
he  think  amiss  ?  Has  not  the  experience  of  centuries 
confirmed  his  opinion  ?  Boileau  also  thought  it  prob- 
able that,  in  the  best  modern  Latin,  a  writer  of  the 


30  ADDISON 

Augustan  age  would  have  detected  ludicrous  improprie- 
ties. Aud  who  can  think  otherwise  ?  What  modern 
scholar  can  honestly  declare  that  he  sees  the  smallest 
impurity  in  the  style  of  Livy  ?  Yet  is  it  not  certain 
that,  in  the  style  of  Livy,  Pollio,°  whose  taste  had 
been  formed  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  detected  the 
inelegant  idiom  of  the  Po  ?  Has  any  modern  scholar 
understood  Latin  better  than  Frederic  the  Great 
understood   French  ?     Yet    is   it  not   notorious   that 

lo  Frederic  the  Great,  after  reading,  speaking,  writing 
French,  and  nothing  but  French,  during  more  than 
half  a  century,  after  unlearning  his  mother  tongue 
in  order  to  learn  French,  after  living  familiarly  during 
"many  years  with  French  associates,  could  not,  to  the 
last,  compose  in  French,  without  imminent  risk  of 
committing  some  mistake  which  would  have  moved 
a  smile  in  the  literary  circles  of  Paris  ?  Do  we 
believe  that  Erasmus  °  and  Fracastorius  °  wrote  Latin 
as  well  as  Dr.  Eobertson  °  and  Sir  Walter  Scott  wrote 

20  English  ?  And  are  there  not  in  the  Dissertation  on 
Lidia,  the  last  of  Dr.  Robertson's  Works,  in  Waverley, 
in  Marmion,  Scotticisms  at  which  a  London  apprentice 
would  laugh?  But  does  it  follow,  because  we  think 
thus,  that  we  can  find  nothing  to  admire  in  the  noble 
alcaics  of  Gray,°  or  in  the  playful  elegiacs  of  Vincent 


ADDISON  31 

Bourne  °?  Surely  not.  Xor  was  Boileau  so  ignorant 
or  tasteless  as  to  be  incapable  of  appreciating  good 
modern  Latin.  In  the  very  letter  to  which  Johnson 
alludes,  Boileau  says  —  '^Xe  croyez  pas  pourtant  que 
je  veuille  par  la  blaraer  les  vers  Latins  que  vous 
m'avez  envoyes  d'un  de  vos  illustres  acadeinieiens. 
Je  les  ai  trouves  fort  beaux,  et  dignes  de  Yida  et  de 
Sannazar,  mais  non  pas  d'Horace  et  de  Yirgile."" 
Several  poems,  in  modern  Latin,  have  been  praised 
by  Boileau  quite  as  liberally  as  it  was  his  habit  to  lo 
praise  anything.  He  says,  for  example,  of  the  Pere 
Fraguier's  °  epigrams,  that  Catullus  seems  to  have  come 
to  life  again.  But  the  best  proof  that  Boileau  did 
not  feel  the  undiscerning  contempt  for  modern  Latin 
verses,  which  has  been  imputed  to  him,  is,  that  he 
wrote  and  published  Latin  verses  in  several  metres. 
Indeed  it  happens,  curiously  enough,  that  the  most 
severe  censure  ever  pronounced  by  him  on  modern 
Latin  is  conveyed  in  Latin  hexameters.  We  allude 
to  the  fragment  which  begins —  20 

'  Quid  numeris  iterum  me  balbutire  Latinis, 
Longe  Alpes  citra  natum  de  patre  Sicambro, 
Musa,  jubes  ?  '  ° 

For  these  reasons  we  feel  assured  that  the  praise 
which  Boileau  bestowed  on  the  3IacJunce  Gesticulantes° 


32  ADDISON 

and  the  Gerano-PygmceomacJiia,  was  sincere.  He 
certainly  opened  Mm  self  to  Addison  with  a  freedom 
which  was  a  snre  indication  of  esteem.  Literature  was 
the  chief  subject  of  conversation.  The  old  man  talked 
on  his  favorite  theme  much  and  well,  indeed,  as  his 
young  hearer  thought,  incomparably  well.  Boileau 
had  undoubtedly  some  of  the  qualities  of  a  great  critic. 
He  wanted  imagination ;  but  he  had  strong  sense.  His 
literary  code  was  formed  on  narrow  principles ;  but  in 

lo  applying  it,  he  showed  great  judgment  and  penetration. 
In  mere  style,  abstracted  from  the  ideas  of  which  style 
is  the  garb,  his  taste  was  excellent.  He  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  great  Greek  writers  ;  and,  though 
unable  fully  to  appreciate  their  creative  genius,  ad- 
mired the  majestic  simplicity  of  their  manner,  and  had 
learned  from  them  to  despise  bombast  and  tinsel.  It 
is  easy,  we  think,  to  discover  in  the  Spectator  °  and 
the  Guardian,  traces  of  the  influence,  in  part  salutary 
and  in  part  pernicious,  which  the  mind  of  Boileau  had 

20  on  the  mind  of  Addison. 

While  Addison  was  at  Paris,  an  event  took  place 
which  made  that  capital  a  disagreeable  residence  for 
an  Englishman  and  a  Whig.  Charles,  second  of  the 
name,  King  of  Spain,  died ;  and  bequeathed  his  domin- 
ions to  Philip,  Duke  of  Anjou,  a  younger  son  of  the 


ADDISOX  33 

Dauphin.°  The  King  of  France,  in  direct  violation  of 
his  engagements,  both  with  Great  Britain  and  with 
the  States-General,°  accepted  the  bequest  on  behalf  of 
his  grandson.  The  house  of  Bourbon  was  at  the  sum- 
mit of  human  grandeur.  England  had  been  outwitted, 
and  found  herself  in  a  situation  at  once  degrading  and 
perilous.  The  people  of  France,  not  presaging  the 
calamities  by  which  they  were  destined  to  expiate  the 
perfidy  of  their  sovereign,  went  mad  with  pride  and 
delight.  Every  man  looked  as  if  a  great  estate  had  lo 
just  been  left  him.  "  The  French  conversation,"  says 
Addison,  '-begins  to  grow  insupportable;  that  which 
was  before  the  vainest  nation  in  the  world  is  now  worse 
than  ever."  Sick  of  the  arrogant  exultation  of  the 
Parisians,  and  probably  foreseeing  that  the  peace  be- 
tween France  and  England  could  not  be  of  long  dura- 
tion, he  set  off  for  Italy. 

In  December,  1700,^  he  embarked  at  Marseilles.  As 
he  glided  along  the  Ligurian  coast,  he  was  delighted 
by  the  sight  of  myrtles  and  olive  trees,  which  retained  20 

lit  is  strange  that  Addison  should,  in  the  first  line  of  his  travels, 
hare  misdated  his  departure  from  Marseilles  by  a  whole  year,  and 
still  more  strange  that  this  slip  of  the  pen,  which  throws  tue  whole 
narrative  into  inextricable  confusion,  should  have  been  repeated  in 
a  succession  of  editions,  aoid  never  detected  by  Tickell  or  by  Hurd. 

D 


34  ADDISON 

their  verdure  under  the  winter  solstice.  Soon,  how- 
ever, h3  encountered  one  of  the  black  storms  of  the 
Mediterranean.  The  captain  of  the  ship  gave  up  all 
for  lost,  and  confessed  himself  to  a  Capuchin  who  hap- 
pened to  be  on  board.  The  English  heretic,  in  the 
mean  time,  fortified  himself  against  the  terrors  of  death 
with  devotions  of  a  very  different  kind.  How  strong 
an  impression  this  perilous  voyage  made  on  him,  ap- 
pears from  the  ode,°  "  How  are  thy  servants  blest,  O 

10  Lord ! "  which  was  long  after  published  in  the  Spec- 
tator. After  some  days  of  discomfort  and  danger, 
Addison  was  glad  to  land  at  Savona,  and  to  make  his 
way,  over  mountains  where  no  road  had  yet  been  hewn 
out  by  art,  to  the  city  of  Genoa. ° 

At  Genoa,  still  ruled  by  her  own  Doge,  and  by  the 
nobles  whose  names  were  inscribed  on  her  Book  of 
Gold,°  Addison  made  a  short  stay.  He  admired  the 
narrow  streets  overhung  by  long  lines  of  towering  pal- 
aces, the  walls  rich  with  frescoes,  the  gorgeous  temple 

20  of  the  Annunciation,  and  the  tapestries  whereon  were 
recorded  the  long  glories  of  the  house  of  Doria.  Thence 
he  hastened  to  Milan,  where  he  contemplated  the 
Gothic  magnificence  of  the  cathedral  with  more  wonder 
than  pleasure.  He  passed  Lake  Benaciis  °  while  a  gale 
was  blowing,  and  saw  the  waves  raging  as  they  raged 


ADDISON  35 

when  Virgil  looked  upon  them.  At  Venice,  then  the 
gayest  spot  in  Europe,  the  traveller  spent  the  Carnival, 
the  gayest  season  of  the  year,  in  the  midst  of  masques, 
dances,  and  serenades.  Here  he  was  at  once  diverted 
and  provoked  by  the  absurd  dramatic  pieces  which 
then  disgraced  the  Italian  stage.  To  one  of  those 
pieces,  however,  he  was  indebted  for  a  valuable  hint. 
He  was  present  when  a  ridiculous  play  on  the  death 
of  Cato  was  performed.  Cato,  it  seems,  was  in  love 
with  a  daughter  of  Scipio.  The  lady  had  given  her  lo 
heart  to  Caesar.  The  rejected  lover  determined  to  de- 
stroy himself.  He  appeared  seated  in  his  library,  a 
dagger  in  his  hand,  a  Plutarch  and  a  Tasso  °  before 
him ;  and,  in  this  position,  he  pronounced  a  soliloquy 
before  he  struck  the  blow.  We  are  surprised  that  so 
remarkable  a  circumstance  as  this  should  have  escaped 
the  notice  of  all  Addison's  biographers.  There  cannot, 
we  conceive,  be  the  smallest  doubt  that  this  scene,  in 
spite  of  its  absurdities  and  anachronisms,  struck  the 
traveller's  imagination,  and  suggested  to  him  the  20 
thought  of  bringing  Cato  on  the  English  stage.  It  is 
well  known  that  about  this  time  he  began  his  tragedy, 
and  that  he  finished  the  first  four  acts  before  he  re- 
turned to  England. 

On  his  way  from  Venice  to  Eome,  he  was  drawn 


36  ADDISON 

some  miles  out  of  the  beaten  road  by  a  wish  to  see 
the  smallest  independent  state  in  Europe.  On  a  rock 
where  the  snow  still  lay,  though  the  Italian  spring 
was  now  far  advanced,  was  perched  the  little  fortress 
of  San  Marino.°  The  roads  which  led  to  the  secluded 
town  were  so  bad  that  few  travellers  had  ever  visited 
it,  and  none  had  ever  published  an  account  of  it. 
Addison  could  not  suppress  a  good-natured  smile  at 
the  simple,  manners  and  institutions  of  this  singular 

10  community.  But  he  observed  with  the  exultation  of 
a  Whig,  that  the  rude  mountain  tract  which  formed 
the  territory  of  the  republic  swarmed  with  an  honest, 
healthy,  and  contented  peasantry,  while  the  rich  plain 
which  surrounded  the  metropolis  of  civil  and  spiritual 
tyranny  was  scarcely  less  desolate  than  the  uncleared 
wilds  of  America. 

At  Eome  Addison  remained  on  his  first  visit  only 
long  enough  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  St.  Peter's  °  and  of 
the  Pantheon. °     His  haste  is  the  more  extraordinary 

20  because  the  Holy  Week°  was  close  at  hand.  He  has 
given  no  hint  which  can  enable  us  to  pronounce  why 
he  chose  to  fly  from  a  spectacle  which  every  year 
allures  from  distant  regions  persons  of  far  less  taste 
and  sensibility  than  his.  Possibly,  travelling,  as  he 
did,  at  the  charge  of  a  Government  distinguished  by 


ADDISON  37 

its  enmity  to  the  Church,  of  Eome,  he  may  have 
thought  that  it  would  be  imprudent  in  him  to  assist 
at  the  most  magnificent  rite  of  that  Church.  ^lany 
eyes  would  be  upon  him ;  and  he  might  find  it  difficult 
to  behave  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  offence  neither 
to  his  patrons  in  England,  nor  to  those  among  whom 
he  resided.  Whatever  his  motives  may  have  been,  he 
turned  his  back  on  the  most  august  and  affecting  cere- 
mony which  is  known  among  men,  and  posted  along 
the  Appian  way  to  ]Sraples.  lo 

Naples  was  then  destitute  of  what  are  now,  perhaps, 
its  chief  attractions.  The  lovely  bay  and  the  awful 
mountain  were  indeed  there.  But  a  farmhouse  stood  on 
the  theatre  of  Herculaneum,  and  rows  of  vines  grew  over 
the  streets  of  Pompeii.  The  temples  of  P8estum°  had 
not  indeed  been  hidden  from  the  eye  of  man  by  any 
great  convulsion  of  nature ;  but,  strange  to  say,  their 
existence  was  a  secret  even  to  artists  and  antiquaries. 
Though  situated  within  a  few  hours'  journey  of  a 
great  capital,  where  Salvator°  had  not  long  before  20 
painted,  and  where  Vico°  was  then  lecturing,  those 
noble  remains  were  as  little  known  to  Europe  as  the 
ruined  cities  overgrown  by  the  forests  of  Yucatan. 
"What  Avas  to  be  seen  at  Naples,  Addison  saw.  He 
climbed  Vesuvius,  explored  the  tunnel  of  Posilipo,° 


38  ADDISON 

and  wandered  among  the  vines  and  almond  trees  ot 
Capre8e.°  But  neither  the  wonders  of  nature,  nor 
those  of  art,  could  so  occupy  his  attention  as  to  pre- 
vent him  from  noticing,  though  cursorily,  the  abuses 
of  the  government  and  the  misery  of  the  people.  The 
great  kingdom  which  had  just  descended  to  Philip  the 
Fifth,°  was  in  a  state  of  paralytic  dotage.  Even  Castile 
and  Aragon  were  sunk  in  wretchedness.  Yet,  com- 
pared with  the  Italian  dependencies  of  the  Spanish 

lo  crovm,  Castile  and  Aragon  might  be  called  prosperous. 
It  is  clear  that  all  the  observations  which  Addison 
made  in  Italy  tended  to  confirm  him  in  the  political 
opinions  which  he  had  adopted  at  home.  To  the  last, 
he  always  spoke  of  foreign  travel  as  the  best  cure  for 
Jacobitism.°  In  his  Freeholder,"  the  Tory  fox-hunter  ° 
asks  what  travelling  is  good  for,  except  to  teach  a 
man  to  jabber  French,  and  to  talk  against  passive 
obedience. 

From  Kaples,  Addison   returned   to  Rome  by  sea, 

20  along  the  coast  which  his  favorite  Virgil  had  cele- 
brated. The  felucca  passed  the  headland  where  the 
oar  and  trumpet  were  placed  by  the  Trojan  advent- 
urers on  the  tomb  of  Misenus,°  and  anchored  at  night 
under  the  shelter  of  the  fabled  promontory  of  Circe. 
The  voyage  ended  in  the  Tiber,  still  overhung  with 


ADDISON  39 

dark  verdure,  and  still  turbid  ^yith  yellow  sand,  as 
when  it  met  the  eyes  of  ^neas.  From  the  ruined 
port  of  Ostia,  the  stranger  hurried  to  Rome ;  and  at 
Rome  he  remained  during  those  hot  and  sickly  months  ° 
when,  even  in  the  Augustan  age,  all  who  could  make 
their  escape  fled  from  inad  dogs  and  from  streets  black 
with  funerals,  to  gather  the  first  figs  of  the  season  in 
the  country.  It  is  probable  that,  when  he,  long  after, 
poured  forth  in  verse  his  gratitude  to  the  Providence 
which  had  enabled  him  to  breathe  unhurt  in  tainted  lo 
air,  he  was  thinking  of  the  August  and  September 
which  he  had  passed  at  Rome. 

It  was  not  till  the  latter  end  of  October  that  he  tore 
himself  away  from  the  masterpieces  of  ancient  and 
modern  art  which  are  collected  in  the  city  so  long 
the  mistress  of  the  world.  He  then  journeyed  north- 
ward, passed  through  Sienna,  and  for  a  moment  forgot 
his  prejudices  in  favor  of  classic  architecture  as  he 
looked  on  the  magnificent  cathedral.  At  Florence  he 
spent  some  days  with  the  Duke  of  Shrewsbury,"  who,  20 
cloyed  with  the  pleasures  of  ambition,  and  impatient 
of  its  pains,  fearing  both  parties,  and  loving  neither, 
had  determined  to  hide  in  an  Italian  retreat  talents 
and  accomplishments  which,  if  they  had  been  united 
with  fixed  principles  and  civil  courage,  might  have 


40  ADDISON 

made  him  the  foremost  man  of  his  age.  These  days, 
we  are  told,  passed  pleasantly;  and  we  can  easily 
believe  it.  For  Addison  was  a  delightful  companion 
when  he  was  at  his  ease ;  and  the  Duke,  though  he 
seldom  forgot  that  he  was  a  Talbot,  had  the  invaluable 
art  of  putting  at  ease  all  who  came  near  him. 

Addison  gave  some  time  to  Florence,  and  especially 
to  the  sculptures  in  the  Museum,°  which  he  preferred 
even  to  those  of  the  Vatican."     He  then  pursued  his 

lo  journey  through  a  country  in  which  the  ravages  of  the 
last  war  were  still  discernible,  and  in  which  all  men 
were  looking  forward  with  a  dread  to  a  still  fiercer 
conflict."  Eugene"  had  already  descended  from  the 
Kheetian  Alps,  to  dispute  with  Catinat  the  rich  plain 
of  Lombardy.  The  faithless  ruler  of  Savoy  °  was  still 
reckoned  among  the  allies  of  Lewis.  England  had 
not  yet  actually  declared  war  against  France;  but 
Manchester  had  left  Paris ;  and  the  negotiations 
which   produced  the    Grand    Alliance"    against   the 

20  House  of  Bourbon  were  in  progress.  Under  such 
circumstances,  it  was  desirable  for  an  English  travel- 
ler to  reach  neutral  ground  without  delay.  Addison 
resolved  to  cross  Mont  Cenis."  It  was  December; 
and  the  road  was  very  different  from  that  which  now 
reminds    the   stranger   of   the   power   and   genius    of 


ADMSOX  41 

i^apoleon.  The  winter,  however,  was  mild;  and 
the  passage  was,  for  those  times,  easy.  To  this 
journey  Addison  alluded  when,  in  the  ode  which 
we  hare  already  quoted,  he  said  that  for  him  the 
Divine  goodness  had  warmed  the  hoary  Alpine  hills. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  the  eternal  snow  that  he 
composed  his  Epistle  to  his  friend  Montague,  now 
Lord  Halifax.  That  Epistle,  once  widely  renowned, 
is  now  known  only  to  curious  readers,  and  will  hardly 
be  considered  by  those  to  whom  it  is  known  as  in  any  lo 
perceptible  degree  heightening  Addison's  fame.  It  is, 
however,  decidedly  superior  to  any  English  composi- 
tion which  he  had  previously  published.  Nay,  we  think 
it  quite  as  good  as  any  poem  in  heroic  metre  which 
appeared  during  the  interval  between  the  death  of 
Dryden  and  the  publication  of  the  Essay  on  Criti- 
cism. It  contains  passages  as  good  as  the  second- 
rate  passages  of  Pope,  and  would  have  added  to  the 
reputation  of  Parnell  or  Prior. 

But,  whatever  be  the  literary  merits  or  defects  of  20 
the  Epistle,  it  undoubtedly  does  honor  to  the  prin- 
ciples and  spirit  of  the  author.  Halifax  had  now 
nothing  to  give.  He  had  fallen  from  power,  had 
been  held  up  to  obloquy,  had  been  impeached  by  the 
House    of    Commons,    and,    though    his    Peers    had 


42  ADDISON 

dismissed  the  impeachment,  had,  as  it  seemed,  little 
chance  of  ever  again  filling  high  office.  The  Epistle, 
written  at  such  a  time,  is  one  among  many  proofs 
that  there  was  no  mixture  of  cowardice  or  meanness 
in  the  suavity  and  moderation  which  distinguished 
Addison  from  all  the  other  public  men  of  those 
stormy  times. 

At   Geneva,   the   traveller   learned   that   a  partial 
change  of  ministry  had  taken  place  in  England,  and 

10  that  the  Earl  of  Manchester  had  become  Secretary  of 
State.  Manchester  exerted  himself  to  serve  his  young 
friend.  It  Avas  thought  advisable  that  an  English 
agent  should  be  near  the  person  of  Eugene  in  Italy ; 
and  Addison,  whose  diplomatic  education  was  now 
finished,  was  the  man  selected.  He  was  preparing 
to  enter  on  his  honorable  functions,  when  all  his 
prospects  Avere  for  a  time  darkened  by  the  death  of 
William  the  Third. 

Anne  had   long  felt  a  strong  aversion,  personal, 

20  political,  and  religious,  to  the  Whig  party.  That 
aversion  appeared  in  the  first  measures  of  her  reign. 
Manchester  was  deprived  of  the  seals,  after  he  had 
held  them  only  a  few  weeks.  Neither  Somers  nor 
Halifax  was  sworn  of  the  Privy  Council.  Addison 
shared  the  fate  of  his  three  patrons.     His  hopes  of 


AT)  VIS  ox  43 

employment  iu  the  public  service  were  at  an  end; 
liis  pension  was  stopped;  and  it  was  necessary  for 
him  to  support  himself  by  his  own  exertions.  He 
became  tutor  to  a  young  English  traveller,  and 
appears  to  have  rambled  with  his  pupil  over  a  great 
part  of  Switzerland  and  Germany.  At  this  time  he 
wrote  his  pleasing  treatise  on  ^Eedals.  It  was  not 
published  till  after  his  death;  but  several  distin- 
guished scholars  saw  the  manuscript,  and  gave  just 
praise  to  the  grace  of  the  style,  and  to  the  learning  lo 
and  ingenuity  evinced  by  the  quotations. 

From  Germany  Addison  repaired  to  Holland,  w^here 
he  learned  the  melancholy  news  of  his  father's  death. 
After  passing  some  months  in  the  United  Provinces, 
he  returned  about  the  close  of  the  year  1703  to  Eng- 
land. He  was  there  cordially  received  by  his  friends, 
and  introduced  by  them  into  the  Kit  Cat  Club,  a 
society  in  which  were  collected  all  the  various  talents 
and  accomplishments  which  then  gave  lustre  to  the 
Whig  party.  20 

Addison  was,  during  some  months  after  his  return 
from  the  Continent,  hard  pressed  by  pecuniary  diffi- 
culties. But  it  was  soon  in  the  power  of  his  noble 
patrons  to  serve  him  effectually.  A  political  change, 
silent  and  gradual,  but  of  the  highest  importance,  was 


44  ADDISON 

in  daily  progress.  The  accession  of  Anne  had  been 
hailed  by  the  Tories  with  transports  of  joy  and  hope ; 
and  for  a  time  it  seemed  that  the  Whigs  had  fallen 
never  to  rise  again.  The  throne  was  surrounded  by 
men  supposed  to  be  attached  to  the  prerogative  and 
to  the  Church;  and  among  these  none  stood  so  high  in 
the  favor  of  the  sovereign  as  the  Lord  Treasurer 
Godolphin°  and  the  Captain  General  Marlborough." 
The  country  gentlemen  and  the  country  clergymen 

lo  had  fully  expected  that  the  policy  of  these  ministers 
would  be  directly  opposed  to  that  which  had  been 
almost  constantly  followed  by  William;  that  the 
landed  interest  would  be  favored  at  the  expense  of 
trade  ;  that  no  addition  would  be  made  to  the  funded 
debt ;  that  the  privileges  conceded  to  Dissenters  °  by 
the  late  King  would  be  curtailed,  if  not  withdrawn ; 
that  the  war  with  France,  if  there  must  be  such  a  war, 
would,  on  our  part,  be  almost  entirely  naval;  and 
that  the  Government  would  avoid  close  connections 

20  with  foreign  powers,  and,  above  all,  with  Holland. 
But  the  country  gentlemen  and  country  clergymen 
were  fated  to  be  deceived,  not  for  the  last  time.  The 
prejudices  and  passions  which  raged  without  control 
m  the  vicarages,  in  cathedral  closes,  and  in  the  manor- 
houses  of  fox-hunting  squires,  were  not  shared  by  the 


ADDISON  45 

chiefs  of  the  ministry.  Those  statesmen  saw  that  it 
was  both  for  the  public  interest  and  for  their  own 
interest,  to  adopt  a  Whig  policy  at  least  as  respected 
the  alliances  of  the  country  and  the  conduct  of  the 
war.  But,  if  the  foreign  policy  of  the  Whigs  were 
adopted,  it  was  impossible  to  abstain  from  adopting 
also  their  financial  policy.  The  natural  consequences 
followed.  The  rigid  Tories  were  alienated  from  the 
Government.  The  votes  of  the  Whigs  became  neces- 
sary to  it.  The  votes  of  the  AVhigs  could  be  secured  lo 
only  by  further  concessions ;  and  further  concessions 
the  Queen  was  induced  to  make. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1704,  the  state  of  par- 
ties bore  a  close  analogy  to  the  state  of  parties  in 
1826.  In  1826,  as  in  1704,  there  was  a  Tory  ministry 
divided  into  two  hostile  sections.  The  position  of 
Mr.  Canning  °  and  his  friends  in  1826  corresponded  to 
that  which  Marlborough  and  Godolphin  occupied  in 
1704.  Nottingham  °  and  Jersey  °  were,  in  1704,  what 
Lord  Eldon  °  and  Lord  Westmoreland  °  were  in  1826.  20 
The  Whigs  of  1704  were  in  a  situation  resembling 
that  in  which  the  Whigs  of  1826  stood.  In  1704, 
Somers,°  Halifax,^  Sunderland,°  Cowper,°  were  not  in 
office.  There  was  no  avowed  coalition  between  them 
and  the  moderate  Tories.     It  is  probable  that  no  di- 


40  ADDISON 

rect  communication  tending  to  such  a  coalition  liad 
yet  taken  place  ;  yet  all  men  saw  that  such  a  coalition 
was  inevitable,  nay,  that  it  was  already  half  formed. 
Such,  or  nearly  such,  was  the  state  of  things  when 
tidings  arrived  of  the  great  battle  fought  at  Blenheim  ° 
on  the  13th  August,  1704.  By  the  Whigs  the  news 
was  hailed  with  transports  of  joy  and  pride.  No  fault, 
no  cause  of  quarrel,  could  be  remembered  by  them 
against  the  Commander  whose  genius  had,  in  one  day, 

10  changed  the  face  of  Europe,  saved  the  Imperial  throne, 
humbled  the  House  of  Bourbon,  and  secured  the  Act 
of  Settlement  °  against  foreign  hostility.  The  feeling 
of  the  Tories  was  very  different.  They  could  not  in- 
deed, without  impudence,  openly  express  regret  at  an 
event  so  glorious  to  their  country ;  but  their  congratu- 
lations were  so  cold  and  sullen  as  to  give  deep  disgust 
to  the  victorious  general  and  his  friends. 

Godolphin  was  not  a  reading  man.     Whatever  time 
he  could  spare  from  business  he  was  in  the  habit  of 

20  spending  at  Newmarket  °  or  at  the  card  table.  But  he 
was  not  absolutely  indifferent  to  poetry ;  and  he  was 
too  intelligent  an  observer  not  to  perceive  that  litera- 
ture was  a  formidable  engine  of  political  warfare,  and 
that  the  great  Whig  leaders  had  strengthened  their 
party,  and  raised  their  character,  by  extending  a  lib- 


ADDISON  47 

eral  and  judicious  patronage  to  good  writers.  He  was 
mortified,  and  not  without  reason,  by  tlie  exceeding 
badness  of  the  poems  which  appeared  in  honor  of  the 
battle  of  Blenheim.  One  of  these  poems  has  been 
rescued  from  oblivion  by  the  exquisite  absurdity  of 
three  lines. 

"  Think  of  two  thousand  gentlemen  at  least, 
And  each  man  mounted  on  his  capering  beast ; 
Into  the  Danube  they  were  pushed  by  shoals." 

Where  to  procure  better  verses  the  Treasurer  didio 
not  know.  He  understood  how  to  negotiate  a  loan, 
or  remit  a  subsidy:  he  was  also  well  versed  in  the 
history  of  running  horses  and  fighting  cocks ;  but  his 
acquaintance  among  the  poets  was  very  small.  He 
consulted  Halifax ;  but  Halifax  affected  to  decline  the 
office  of  adviser.  He  had,  he  said,  done  his  best, 
when  he  nad  power,  to  encourage  men  whose  abilities 
and  acquirements  might  do  honor  to  their  country. 
Those  times  were  over.  Other  maxims  had  prevailed. 
Merit  was  suffered  to  pine  in  obscurity ;  and  the  public  20 
money  was  squandered  on  the  undeserving.  ''  I  do 
know,"  he  added,  "  a  gentleman  who  would  celebrate 
the  battle  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  subject ;  but 
I  will  not  name  him."     Godolphin,  who  was  expert  at 


48  ADDISON 

the  soft  answer  which  turneth  away  wrath,  and  who 
was  under  the  necessity  of  paying  court  to  the  Whigs, 
gently  replied  that  there  was  too  much  ground  for 
Halifax's  complaints,  but  that  what  was  amiss  should 
in  time  be  rectified,  and  that  in  the  mean  time 
the  services  of  a  man  such  as  Halifax  had  described 
should  be  liberally  rewarded.  Halifax  then  mentioned 
Addison,  but,  mindful  of  the  dignity  as  well  as  of  the 
pecuniary   interest   of   his   friend,  insisted   that   the 

10  Minister  should  apply  in  the  most  courteous  manner  to 
Addison  himself ;  and  this  Godolphin  promised  to  do. 
Addison  then  occupied  a  garret  up  three  pair  of 
stairs,  over  a  small  shop  in  the  Haymarket.  In  this 
humble  lodging  he  was  surprised,  on  the  morning 
which  followed  the  conversation  between  Godolphin 
and  Halifax,  by  a  visit  from  no  less  a  person  than 
the  Kight  Honorable  Henry  Boyle,  then  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer,  and  afterwards  Lord  Carleton. 
This  high-born  minister  had  been  sent  by  the  Lord 

20  Treasurer  as  ambassador  to  the  needy  poet.  Addison 
readily  undertook  the  proposed  task,  a  task  which,  to 
so  good  a  Whig,  was  probably  a  pleasure.  When  the 
poem  was  little  more  than  half  finished,  he  showed 
it  to  Godolphin,  who  was  delighted  with  it,  and  par- 
ticularly with  the  famous  similitude  of  the   Angel. ° 


ADDISON  49 

Addison  was  instantly  appointed  to  a  Commissioner- 
ship  worth  about  two  hundred  pounds  a  year,  and 
was  assured  that  this  appointment  was  only  an  earnest 
of  greater  favors. 

The  Campaign  came  forth,  and  was  as  much  admired 
by  the  public  as  by  the  Minister.  It  pleases  us  less 
on  the  whole  than  the  Epistle  to  Halifax.  Yet  it  un- 
doubtedly ranks  high  among  the  poems  which  appeared 
during  the  interval  between  the  death  of  Dry  den  and 
the  dawn  of  Pope's  genius.  The  chief  merit  of  the  lo 
Campaign,  we  think,  is  that  which  was  noticed  by  John- 
son, the  manly  and  rational  rejection  of  fiction.  The 
first  great  poet  whose  works  have  come  down  to  us 
sang  of  war  long  before  war  became  a  science  or  a 
trade.  If,  in  his  time,  there  was  enmity  between  two 
little  Greek  towns,  each  poured  forth  its  crowd  of  cit- 
izens, ignorant  of  discipline,  and  armed  with  imple- 
ments of  labor  rudely  turned  into  weapons.  On  each 
side  apjjeared  conspicuous  a  few  chiefs,  whose  wealth 
had  enabled  them  to  procure  good  armor,  horses,  and  20 
chariots,  whose  leisure  had  enabled  them  to  practise 
military  exercises.  One  such  chief,  if  he  were  a  man 
of  great  strength,  agility,  and  courage,  would  prob- 
ably be  more  formidable  than  twenty  common  men ; 
and   the   force   and    dexterity  with   which   he   flung 


50  ADDISON 

his  spear  might  have  no  inconsiderable  share  in 
deciding  the  event  of  the  day.  Such  were  probably 
the  battles  with  which  Homer  was  familiar.  But 
Homer  related  the  actions  of  men  of  a  former 
generation,  of  men  who  sprang  from  the  Gods,  and 
communed  with  the  Gods  face  to  face,  of  men,  one 
of  whom  could  with  ease  hurl  rocks  which  two  sturdy 
hinds  of  a  later  period  would  be  unable  even  to  lift. 
He  therefore  naturally  represented  their  martial  ex- 

loploits  as  resembling  in  kind,  but  far  surpassing  in 
magnitude,  those  of  the  stoutest  and  most  expert  com- 
batants of  his  own  age.  Achilles,  clad  in  celestial 
armor,  drawn  by  celestial  coursers,  grasping  the  spear 
which  none  but  himself  could  raise,  driving  all  Troy 
and  Lycia  before  him,  and  choking  Scamander  with 
dead,  was  only  a  magnificent  exaggeration  of  the  real 
hero,  who,  strong,  fearless,  accustomed  to  the  use  of 
weapons,  guarded  by  a  shield  and  helmet  of-  the  best 
Sidonian  fabric  and  whirled  along  by  horses  of  Thes- 

20  salian  breed,  struck  down  with  his  own  right  arm  foe 
after  foe.  In  all  rude  societies  similar  notions  are 
found.  There  are  at  this  day  countries  where  the  Life- 
guardsman  Shaw  °  would  be  considered  as  a  much 
greater  warrior  than  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  Bonor 
parte  loved  to  describe  the  astonishment  with  which 


ADDISON  51 

the  Mamelukes  °  looked  at  his  diminutive  figure. 
Mourad  Bey,  distinguished  above  all  his  fellows  by 
his  bodily  strength,  and  by  the  skill  with  which  he 
managed  his  horse  and  his  sabre,  could  not  believe 
that  a  man  who  was  scarcely  five  feet  high,  and  rode 
like  a  butcher,  could  be  the  greatest  soldier  in  Europe. 
Homer's  description  of  war  had  therefore  as  much 
truth  as  poetry  requires.  But  truth  was  altogether 
wanting  to  the  performances  of  those  who,  writing 
about  battles  which  had  scarcely  anything  in  common  lo 
with  the  battles  of  his  times,  servilely  imitated  his 
manner.  The  folly  of  Silius  Italicus,  in  particular,  is 
positively  nauseous.  He  undertook  to  record  in  verse 
the  vicissitudes  of  a  great  struggle  between  generals 
of  the  first  order :  and  his  narrative  is  made  up  of  the 
hideous  wounds  which  these  generals  inflicted  with 
their  own  hands.  Asdrubal  °  flings  a  spear  which 
grazes  the  shoulder  of  the  consul  Nero;  but  Xero 
sends  his  spear  into  Asdrubal's  side.  Fabius  slays 
Thuris  and  Butes  and  Maris  and  Arses,  and  the  20 
long-haired  Adherbes,  and  the  gigantic  Thylis,  and 
Sapharus  and  Monsesus,  and  the  trumpeter  Morinus. 
Hannibal  runs  Perusinus  through  the  groin  Avith  a 
stake,  and  breaks  the  backbone  of  Telesinus  with  a 
huge  stone.     This  detestable  fashion  was  copied  in 


52  ADDISON 

modern  times,  and  continued  to  prevail  down  to  the 
age  of  Addison.  Several  .versifiers  had  described 
William  turning  thousands  to  flight  by  his  single 
prowess,  and  dyeing  the  Boyne°  with  Irish  blood. 
Nay,  so  estimable  a  writer  as  John  Philips,^  the 
author  of  the  Splendid  Shilling,"  represented  Marl- 
borough as  having  won  the  battle  of  Blenheim  merely 
by  stre^igth  of  muscle  and  skill  in  fence.  The  follow- 
ing lines  may  serve  as  an  example : 

(  "  Churchill,  viewing  where 

The  violence  of  Tallard  °  most  prevailed, 
Came  to  oppose  his  slaughtering  arm.    With  speed 
Precipitate  he  rode,  urging  his  way 
O'er  hills  of  gasping  heroes,  and  fallen  steeds 
Rolling  in  death.    Destruction,  grim  with  blood, 
Attends  his  furious  course.    Around  his  head 
The  glowing  balls  play  innocent,  while  he 
With  dire  impetuous  sway  deals  fatal  blows 
Among  the  flying  Gauls.    In  Gallic  blood 

>'  He  dyes  his  reeking  sword,  and  strews  the  ground 

With  headless  ranks.    What  can  they  do  ?    Or  how 
Withstand  his  wide-destroying  sword  ?  " 

Addison,  with  excellent  sen^e  and  taste,  departed 
from  this  ridiculous  fashion.  He  reserved  his  praise 
for  the  qualities  which  made  Marlborough  truly  great, 
energy,  sagacity,  military  science.     But,  above  all,  the 


.  ADDISON'  53 

poet  extolled  the  firmness  of  that  mind  which,  in  the 
midst  of  confusion,  uproar,  and  slaughter,  examined 
and  disposed  everything  with  the  serene  wisdom  of  a 
higher  intelligence. 

Here  it  was  that  he  introduced  the  famous  compart 
son  of  Marlborough  to  an  Angel  guiding  the  whirl- 
wind. We  will  not  dispute  the  general  justice  of 
Johnson's  remarks  on  this  passage.  But  we  must 
point  out  one  circumstance  which  appears  .to  have 
escaped  all  the  critics.  The  extraordinary  effect  lo 
which  the  simile  produced  when  it  first  appeared, 
and  which  to  the  following  generation  seemed  inex- 
plicable, is  doubtless  to  be  chiefly  attributed  to  a 
line  which  most  readers  now  regard  as  a  feeble  paren- 
thesis, 

"  Such  as,  of  late,  o'er  pale  Britannia  pass'd." 

Addison  spoke,  not  of  a  storm,  but  of  the  storm.  The 
great  tempest  of  November,  1703,  the  onl;y;  tempest 
which  in  our  latitude  has  equalled  the  rage  of  a  tropi- 
cal hurricane,  had  left  a  dreadful  recollection  in  the  20 
minds  of  all  men.  Xo  other  tempest  was  ever  in  this 
country  the  occasion  of  a  parliamentary  address  or  of 
a  public  fast.  Whole  fleets  had  been  cast  away. 
Large  mansions  had  been  blown  down.     One  Prelate 


54  ADDISON 

had  been  buried  beneath  the  ruins  of  his  palace. 
London  and  Bristol  had  presented  the  appearance  of 
cities  just  sacked.  Hundreds  of  families  were  still  in 
mourning.  The  prostrate  trunks  of  large  trees,  and 
the  ruins  of  houses  still  attested,  in  all  the  southern 
counties,  the  fury  of  the  blast.  The  popularity  which 
the  simile,  of  the  angel' enjoyed  among  Addison's  con- 
temporaries, has  always  seemed  to  us  to  be  a  remarka- 
ble instance  of  the  advantage  which,  in  rhetoric  and 

10  poetry,  the  particular  has  over  the  general. 

Soon  after  the  Campaign,  was  published  Addison's 
narrative  of  his  Travels  in  Italy.  The  first  effect  pro- 
duced by  this  Narrative  was  disappointment.  The 
crowd  of  readers  who  expected  politics  and  scandal, 
speculations  on  the  projects  of  Victor  Amadeus,°  and 
anecdotes  about  the  jollities  of  convents  and  the 
amours  of  cardinals  and  nuns,  were  confounded  by 
finding  that  the  writer's  mind  was  much  more  occupied 
by  the  war  between  the  Trojans  and  Rutulians"  than 

20  by  the  war  between  France  and  Austria ;  and  that  he 
seemed  to  have  heard  no  scandal  of  later  date  than 
the  gallantries  of  the  Empress  Faustina.^  In  time, 
however,  the  judgment  of  the  many  was  overruled  by 
that  of  the  few,  and,  before  the  book  was  reprinted, 
it  was  so  eagerly  sought  that  it  sold  for  five  times  the 


ADDISON  55 

original  price.  It  is  still  read  with  pleasure:  the 
style  is  pure  and  flowing;  the  classical  quotations  and 
allusions  are  numerous  and  happy;  and  we  are  now 
and  then  charmed  by  that  singularly  humane  and  deli- 
cate humor  in  which  Addison  excelled -all  men.  Yet 
this  agreeable  work,  even  when  considered  merely  as 
the  history  of  a  literary  tour,  may  justly  be  censured 
on  account  of  its  faidts  of  omission.  We  have  already 
said  that,  though  rich  in  extracts  from  the  Latin  poets, 
it  contains  scarcely  any  references  to  the  Latin  orators  lo 
and  historians.  We  must  add,  that  it  contains  little, 
or  rather  no  information,  respecting  the  history  and  lit- 
erature of  modern  Italy.  To  the  best  of  our  remem- 
brance, Addison  does  not  mention  Dante,°  Petrarch,° 
i3occaccio,°  Boiardo,°  Berni,°  Lorenzo  de'  Medici,°  or 
Machiavelli.°  He  coldly  tells  us  that  at  Ferrara  he 
saw  the  tomb  of  Ariosto,°  and  that  at  \'enice  he  heard 
the  gondoliers  sing  verses  of  Tasso.°  But  for  Tasso 
and  Ariosto  he  cared  far  less  than  for  Valerius  Flac- 
cus  °  and  Sidonius  Apollinaris.°  The  gentle  flow  of  20 
the  Ticin°  brings  a  line  of  Silius  to  his  mind.  The 
sulphurous  steam  of  Albula  suggests  to  him  several 
passages  of  Martial. °  But  he  ha^s  not  a  word  to  say 
of  the  illustrious  dead  of  Santa  Croce  ° ;  he  crosses 
the  wood  of  Eavenna  without  recollecting  th6  Spectre 


56  ADDISON 

Huntsman,"  and  wanders  up  and  down  Eimini  without 
one  thought  of  Francesca."  At  Paris  he  had  eagerly 
sought  an  introduction  to  Boileau ;  but  he  seems  not 
'  to  have  been  at  all  aware  that  at  Florence  he  w^as  in 
the  vicinity  of*  a  poet  with  whom  Boileau  could  not 
sustain  a  comparison,  of  the  greatest  lyric  poet  of 
modern  times,  Vincenzio  Filicaja.°  This  is  the  most 
remarkable,  because  Filicaja  was  the  favorite  poet  of 
the  accomplished  Somers,  under  whose  protection  id- 

10  dison  travelled,  and  to  w^hom  the  account  of  the  Trav- 
els is  dedicated.  The  truth  is,  that  Addison  knew 
little  and  cared  less,  about  the  literature  of  modern 
Italy.  His  favorite  mojiels  were  Latin.  His  favorite 
critics  were  French.  Half  the  Tuscan  poetry  that  he 
had  read  seemed  to  him  monstrous,  and  the  other  half 
tawdry.  ° 

His  Travels  w^ere  followed  by  the  lively  Opera  of 
Eosamond.°  The  piece  was  ill  set  to  music,  and  there- 
fore failed  on  the  stage,  but  it  completely  succeeded 

20  in  print,  and  is  indeed  excellent  in  its  kind.  The 
smoothness  with  which  the  verses  glide,  and  the  elas- 
ticity with  which  they  bound,  is,  to  our  ears  at  least, 
very  pleasing.  We  are  inclined  to  think  that  if  Addi- 
son had  left  heroic  couplets  to  Pope,  and  blank  verse 
to  Rowe,°  and  had  employed  himself  in  writing  airy 


ADDISON  57 

and  spirited  songs,  his  reputation  as  a  poet  would  have 
stood  far  higher  than  it  now  does.  Some  years  after 
his  death,  Eosamond  was  set  to  new  music  by  Doctor 
Arne°;  and  was  performed  with  complete  success. 
Several  passages  long  retained  their  popularity,  and 
were  daily  sung,  during  the  latter  part  of  George  the 
Second's  reign,  at  aP  t\\c  harpsichords  in  England. 

While  Addison  thus  amused  himself,  his  prospects, 
and  the  prospects  of  his  party,  were  constantly  becom- 
ing brighter  and  brighter.  In  the  spring  of  1705  the  lo 
ministers  were  freed  from  the  restraint  imposed  by  a 
House  of  Commons  in  which  Tories  of  the  most  per- 
verse class  had  the  ascendency.  The  elections  were 
favorable  to  the  Whigs.  The  coalition  which  had 
been  tacitly  and  gradually  formed  was  now  openly 
avowed.  The  Great  Seal  was  given  to  Cowper. 
Somers  and  Halifax  were  sworn  of  the  Council.  Hal- 
ifax was  sent  in  the  following  year  to  carry  the  deco- 
ration of  the  order  of  the  garter  °  to  the  electoral  Prince 
of  Hanover,°  and  was  accompanied  on  this  honorable  20 
mission  by  Addison,  who  had  just  been  made  Under 
Secretary  of  State.  The  Secretary  of  State  under 
whom  Addison  first  served  was  Sir  Charles  Hedges,  a 
Tory.  But  Hedges  was  soon  dismissed  to  make  room 
for  the  most  vehement  of  Whigs,   Charles,  Earl  of 


58  ADDISON 

Sunderland.  In  every  department  of  the  state,  in- 
deed, the  High  Churchmen  were  compelled  to  give 
place  to  their  opponents.  At  the  close  of  1707,  the 
Tories  who  still  remained  in  office  strove  to  rally,  with 
Harley  °  at  their  head.  But  the  attempt,  though  favored 
by  the  Queen,  who  had  always  been  a  Tory  at  heart, 
and  who  had  now  quarrelled  with  the  Duchess  of 
Marlborough,"  was  unsuccessful.  The  time  was  not 
yet.    The  Captain  General  °  was  at  the  height  of  popu- 

lo  larity  and  glory.  The  Low  Church  party  had  a  ma- 
jority in  Parliament.  The  country  squires  and  rectors, 
though  occasionally  uttering  a  savage  growl,  were  for 
the  most  part  in  a  state  of  torpor,  which  lasted  till 
they  were  roused  into  activity,  and  indeed  into  mad- 
ness, by  the  prosecution  of  Sacheverell.°  Harley  and 
his  adherents  were  compelled  to  retire.  The  victory 
of  the  Whigs  was  complete.  At  the  general  election 
of  1708,  their  strength  in  the  House  of  Commons  be- 
came irresistible;   and  before  the  end  of   that   year, 

20  Somers  was  made  Lord  President  of  the  Council,  and 
Wharton  °  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland. 

Addison  sat  for  Malmesbury  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons which  was  elected  in  1708.  But  the  House  of 
Commons  was  not  the  field  for  him.  The  bashf ulness 
of  his  nature  made  his  wit  and  eloquence  useless  in 


ADDISON  59 

debate.  He  once  rose,  but  could  not  overcome  his 
diffidence,  and  ever  after  remained  silent.  Xobody 
can  think  it  strange  that  a  great  writer  should  fail  as 
a  speaker.  But  many,  probably,  will  think  it  strange 
that  Addison's  failure  as  a  speaker  should  have  had 
no  unfavorable  effect  on  his  success  as  a  politician. 
In  our  time,  a  man  of  high  rank  and  great  fortune 
might,  though  speaking  very  little  and  very  ill,  hold  a 
considerable  post.  But  it  would  now  be  inconceivable 
that  a  mere  adventurer,  a  man  who,  when  out  of  office,  lo 
must  live  by  his  pen,  should  in  a  few  years  become 
successively  Under  Secretary  of  State,  CHief  Secretary 
for  Ireland,  and  Secretary  of  State,  without  some 
oratorical  talent.  Addison,  without  high  birth,  and 
with  little  property,  rose  to  a  post  which  Dukes,  the 
heads  of  the  great  houses  of  Talbot,°  Eussell,°  and 
Bentinck,*^  have  thought  it  an  honor  to  fill.  Without 
opening  his  lips  in  debate,  he  rose  to  a  post,  the 
highest  that  Chatham  °  or  Fox°  ever  reached.  And 
this  he  did  before  he  had  been  nine  years  in  Parlia-  20 
ment.  We  must  look  for  the  explanation  of  this  seem- 
ing miracle  to  the  peculiar  circumstances  in  which 
that  generation  was  placed.  During  the  interval  which 
elapsed  between  the  time  when  the  Censorship  of  the 
Press  °  ceased,  and  the  time  when  parliamentary  pro- 


60  ADDISON 

ceedings  began  to  be  freely  reported,  literary  talents 
were,  to  a  public  man,  of  much  more  importance,  and 
oratorical  talents  of  much  less  importance,  than  in  our 
time.  At  present  the  best  way  of  giving  rapid  and 
wide  publicity  to  a  fact  or  an  argument  is  to  introduce 
that  fact  or  argument  into  a  speech  made  in  Parlia- 
ment. If  a  political  tract  were  to  appear  superior  to 
the  Conduct  of  the  Allies,°  or  to  the  best  numbers  of 
the  Freeholder,"  the  circulation  of  such  a  tract  would 

10  be  languid  indeed  when  compared  with  the  circulation 
of  every  remarkable  word  uttered  in  the  deliberations 
of  the  legislature.  A  speech  made  in  the  House  of 
Commons  at  four  in  the  morning  is  on  thirty  thousand 
tables  before  ten.  A  speech  made  on  the  Monday  is 
read  on  the  Wednesday  by  multitudes  in  Antrim  °  and 
Aberdeenshire. °  The  orator,  by  the  help  of  the  short- 
hand writer,  has  to  a  great  extent  superseded  the 
pamphleteer.  It  was  not  so  in  the  reign  of  Anne. 
The  best  speech  could  then  produce  no  effect  except 

20  on  those  who  heard  it.  It  was  only  by  means  of  the 
press  that  the  opinion  of  the  public  without  doors 
could  be  influenced;  and  the  opinion  of  the  public 
without  doors  could  not  but  be  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance in  a  country  governed  by  parliaments,  and  indeed 
at  that  ti^ne  governed  by  triennial  parliaments.  The  pen 


ADDISON  61 

was  therefore  a  more  formidable  political  engine  than 
the  tongue.  Mr.  Pitt  and  Mr.  Fox  contended  only  in 
Parliament.  But  Walpole  °  and  Pulteney,°  the  Pitt 
and  Fox  of  an  earlier  period,  had  not  done  half  of  what 
was  necessary,  when  they  sat  down  amidst  the  acclama- 
tions of  the  House  of  Commons.  They  had  still  to 
plead  their  cause  before  the  country,  and  this  they 
could  only  do  by  means  of  the  press.  Their  works  are 
now  forgotten.  But  it  is  certain  that  there  were  in  Grub 
Street  °  few  more  assiduous  scribblers  of  Thoughts,  lo 
Letters,  Answers,  Eemarks,  than  these  two  great 
chiefs  of  parties.  Pulteney,  when  leader  of  the  Oppo- 
sition, and  possessed  of  fhirty  thousand  a  year,  edited 
the  C  raftsman. °  Walpole,  though  not  a  man  of  liter- 
ary habits,  was  the  author  of  at  least  ten  pamphlets, 
and  retouched  and  corrected  many  more.  These  facts 
sufficiently  show  of  how  great  importance  literary 
assistance  then  was  to  the  contending  parties.  St. 
John°  was,  certainly,  in  Anne's  reign,  the  best  Tory 
speaker;  Cowper  was  probably  the  best  Whig  speaker,  20 
But  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  St.  John  did  so 
much  for  the  Tories  as  Swift,  and  whether  Cowper  did 
so  much  for  the  "Whigs  as  Addison.  When  these 
things  are  duly  considered,  it  will  not  be  thought 
strange  that  Addison  should  have  climbed  higher  in  the 


62  ADDISON 

state  than  any  other  Englishman  has  ever,  by  means 
merely  of  literary  talents,  been  able  to  climb.  Swift 
would,  in  all  probability,  have  climbed  as  high,  if  he  had 
not  been  encumbered  by  his  cassock  and  his  pudding 
sleeves.  As  far  as  the"  homage  of  the  great  went.  Swift 
had  as  much  of  it  as  if  he  had  been  Lord  Treasurer. 

To  the  influence  which  Addison  derived  from  his 
literary  talents  was  added  all  the  influence  which 
arises  from  character.     The  world,  always  ready  to 

10  think  the  worst  of  needy  political  adventurers,  was 
forced  to  make  one  exception.  Eestlessness,  violence, 
audacity,  laxity  of  principle,  are  the  vices  ordinarily 
attributed  to  that  class  of  men.  But  faction  itself 
could  not  deny  that  Addison  had,  through  all  changes 
of  fortune,  been  strictly  faithful  to  his  early  opinions, 
and  to  his  early  friends ;  that  his  integrity  was  with- 
out stain ;  that  his  whole  deportment  indicated  a  fine 
sense  of  the  becoming;  that,  in  the  utmost  heat  of 
controversy,  his  zeal  was  tempered  by  a  regard  for 

20  truth,  humanity,  and  social  decorum ;  that  no  outrage 
could  ever  provoke  him  to  retaliation  unworthy  of  a 
Christian  and  a  gentleman;  and  that  his  only  faults 
were  a  too  sensitive  delicacy,  and  a  modesty  which 
amounted  to  bashfulness. 

He  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  popular  men  of 


.       ADDISON  63 

his  time;  and  much  of  his  popularity  he  owed,  we  be- 
lieve, to  that  very  timidity  which  his  friends  lamented. 
That  timidity  often  prevented  him  from  exhibiting 
his  talents  to  the  best  advantage.  But  it  propitiated 
Xemesis.°  It  averted  that  envy  which  would  other- 
wise have  been  excited  by  fame  so  splendid,  and  by 
so  rapid  an  elevation.  Xo  man  is  so  great  a  favorite 
with  the  public  as  he  who  is  at  once  an  object  of  ad- 
miratiouj  of  respect,  and  of  pity;  and  such  were  the 
feelings  which  Addison  inspired.  Those  who  enjoyed  lo 
the  privilege  of  hearing  his  familiar  conversation,  de- 
clared with  one  voice  that  it  was  superior  even  to  his 
writings.  The  brilliant'  Mary  Montague  °  said,  that 
she  had  known  all  the  wits,  and  that  Addison  was 
the  best  company  in  the  world.  The  malignant  Pope 
was  forced  to  own,  that  there  was  a  charm  in  Addi- 
son's talk,  which  could  be  found  nowhere  else.  Swift, 
when  burning  with  animosity^  against  the  Whigs, 
could  not  but  confess  to  Stella*  that,  after  all,  he 
had  never  known  any  associate  so  agreeable  as  Addi-  20 
son.  Steele,"  an  excellent  judge  of  lively  conversa- 
tion, said,  that  the  conversation  of  Addison  was  at  once 
the  most  polite,  and  the  most  mirthful,  that  could  be 
imagined;  that  it  was  Terence °  and  Catullus  in  one, 
heightened   by   an    exquisite    something   which   was 


64  ,  ADDISON 

neither  Terence  nor  Catullus,  but  Addison  alone. 
Young,°  an  excellent  judge  of  serious  conversation, 
said,  that  when  Addison  was  at  his  ease,  he  went  on 
in  a  noble  strain  of  thought  and  language,  so  as  to 
chain  the  attention  of  every  hearer.  Nor  were  Addi- 
son's great  colloquial  powers  more  admirable  than  the 
courtesy  and  softness  of  heart  which  appeared  in  his 
conversation.  At  the  same  time,  it  would  be  too 
much  to  say  that  he  was  wholly  devoid  of  the  malice 

lo  which  is,  perhaps,  inseparable  from  a  keen  sense  of 
the  ludicrous.  He  had  one  habit  which  both  Swift 
and  Stella  applauded,  and  which  we  hardly  know  how 
to  blame.  If  his  first  attempts  to  set  a  presuming 
dunce  right  were  ill  received,  he  changed  his  tone, 
"  assented  with  civil  leer,"  and  lured  the  flattered  cox- 
comb deeper  and  deeper  into  absurdity.  That  such 
was  his  practice  we  should,  we  think,  have  guessed 
from  his  works.  The  Tatler's  criticisms  on  Mr. 
Softly's°  sonnet,  and  the  Spectator's  dialogue  with 

20  the  politician  who  is  so  zealous  for  the  honor  of  Lady 
Q  —  p  —  t  —  s,  are  excellent  specimens  of  this  innocent 
mischief. 

Such  were  Addison's  talents  for  conversation.  But 
his  rare  gifts  were  not  exhibited  to  crowds  or  to  stran- 
gers.    As  soon  as  he  entered  a  large  company,  as  soon 


ADDISON  65 

as  he  saw  an  unknown  face,  his  lips  were  sealed,  and 
his  manners  became  constrained.  None  who  met  him 
only  in  great  assemblies  would  have  been  able  to  be- 
lieve that  he  was  the  same  man  who  had  often  kept  a 
few  friends  listening  and  laughing  round  a  table,  from 
the  time  when  the  play  ended,  till  the  clock  of  St. 
Paul's  in  Covent  Garden  °  struck  four.  Yet,  even  at 
such  a  table,  he  was  not  seen  to  the  best  advantage. 
To  enjoy  his  conversation  in  the  highest  perfection,  it 
was  necessary  to  be  alone  with  him,  and  to  hear  him,  lo 
in  his  own  phrase,  think  aloud.  "  There  is  no  such 
thing,"  he  used  to  say,  "as  real  conversation,  but 
between  two.  persons." 

This  timidity,  a  timidity  surely  neither  ungraceful 
nor  unamiable,  led  Addison  into  the  two  most  serious 
faults  which  can  with  justice  be  imputed  to  him.  He 
found  that  wine  broke  the  spell  which  lay  on  his  fine 
intellect,  and  was  therefore  too  easily  seduced  into 
convivial  excess.  Such  excess  was  in  that  age  re- 
garded, even  by  grave  men,  as  the  most  venial  of  all  20 
peccadilloes,  and  was  so  far  from  being  a  mark  of  ill- 
breeding,  that  it  was  almost  essential  to  the  character 
of  a  fine  gentleman.  But  the  smallest  speck  is  seen 
on  a  white  ground ;  and  almost  all  the  biographers  of 
Addison  have  said  something  about  this  failing.     Of 


66  ADDISON 

any  other  statesman  or  writer  of  Queen  Anne's  reign, 
we  should  no  more  think  of  saying  that  he  sometimes 
took  too  much  wine,  than  that  he  wore  a  long  wig  and 
a  sword. 

To  the  excessive  modesty  of  Addison's  nature  we 
must  ascribe  another  fault  which  generally  arises  from 
a  very  different  cause.  He  became  a  little  too  fond  of 
seeing  himself  surrounded  by  a  small  circle  of  admir- 
ers, to  whom  he  was  as  a  King  or  rather  as  a  God. 

lo  All  these  men  were  far  inferior  •to  him  in  ability,  and 
some  of  them  had  very  serious  faults.  Nor  did  those 
faults  escape  his  observation;  for,  if  ever  there  was 
an  eye  that  saw  through  and  through  men,  it  was  the 
eye  of  Addison.  But  with  the  keenest  observation, 
and  the  finest  sense  of  the  ridiculous,  he  had  a  large 
charity.  The  feeling  with  which  he  looked  on  most 
of  his  humble  companions  was  one  of  benevolence, 
slightly  tinctured  with  contempt.  He  was  at  perfect 
ease  in  their  company ;  he  was  grateful  for  their  de- 

20  voted  attachment ;  and  he  loaded  them  with  benefits. 
Their  veneration  for  him  appears  to  have  exceeded 
that  with  which  Johnson  was  regarded  by  Boswell,° 
or  Warburton  °  by  Hurd.°  It  was  not  in  the  power 
of  adulation  to  turn  such  a  head,  or  deprave  such  a 
heart,  as  Addison's.     But  it  must  in   candor  be  ad- 


ADDISON  67 

mitted  that  he  contracted  some  of  the  faults  which 
can  scarcely  be  avoided  by  any  person  who  is  so  un- 
fortunate as  to  be  the  oracle  of  a  small  literary  coterie. 

One  member  of  this  little  society  was  Eustace 
Budgell,°  a  young  Templar  of  some  literature,  and  a 
distant  relation  of  Addison.  There  was  at  this  time 
no  stain  on  the  character  of  Budgell,  and  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  his  career  would  have  been  prosperous 
and  honorable,  if  the  life  of  his  cousin  had  been  pro- 
longed. But,  when  the  master  was  laid  in  the  grave,  lo 
the  disciple  broke  loose  from  all  restraint,  descended 
rapidly  from  one  degree  of  vice  and  misery  to  an- 
other, ruined  his  fortune  by  follies,  attempted  to  re- 
pair it  by  crimes,  and  at  length  closed  a  wicked  and 
unhappy  life  by  self-murder.  Yet,  to  the  last,  the 
wretched  man,  gambler,  lampooner,  cheat,  forger,  as 
he  was,  retained  his  affection  and  veneration  for  Ad- 
dison, and  recorded  those  feelings  in  the  last  lines 
which  he  traced  before  he  hid  himself  from  infamy 
under  London  Bridge.  20 

Another  of  Addison's  favorite  companions  was  Am- 
brose Phillips,°  a  good  AYliig  and  a  middling  poet, 
who  had  the  honor  of  bringing  into  fashion  a  species 
of  composition  which  has  been  called,  after  his  name, 
Namby  Pamby.     But  the  most  remarkable  members 


68  ADDISON 

of  the  little  senate,  as  Pope  long  afterwards  called  it, 
were  Richard  Steele  and  Thomas  Tickell.° 

Steele  had  known  Addison  from  childhood.  They 
had  been  together  at  the  Charter  House  and  at  Ox- 
ford; but  circumstances  had  then,  for  a  time,  sepa- 
rated them  widely.  Steele  had  left  college  without 
taking  a  degree,  had  been  disinherited  by  a  rich  rela- 
tion, had  led  a  vagrant  life,  had  served  in  the  army, 
had  tried  to  find   the   philosopher's    stone,  and   had 

10  written  a  religious  treatise  and  several  comedies.  He 
was  one  of  those  people  whom  it  is  impossible  either 
to  hate  or  to  respect.  His  temper  w\as  sweet,  his 
affections  warm,  his  spirits  lively,  his  passions  strong, 
and  his  principles  weak.  His  life  was  spent  in  sin- 
ning and  repenting;  in  inculcating  what  was  right, 
and  doing  what  was  wrong.  In  speculation,  he  was  a 
man  of  piety  and  honor ;  in  practice  he  was  much  of 
the  rake  and  a  little  of  the  swindler.  He  was,  how- 
ever, so  good-natured  that  it  was  not  easy  to  be  seri- 

2oOusly  angry  with  him,  and  that  even  rigid  moralists 
felt  more  inclined  to  pity  than  to  blame  him,  when  he 
diced  himself  into  a  spunging  house  °  or  drank  himself 
into  a  fever.  Addison  regarded  Steele  with  kindness 
not  unmingled  with  scorn,  tried,  with  little  success,  to 
keep  him  out  of  scrapes,  introduced  himx  to  the  great, 


ADDISON  69 

procured  a  place  for  him,  corrected  his  plays,  and, 
though  by  no  means  rich,  lent  him  large  sums  of 
money.  One  of  these  loans  appears,  from  a  letter 
dated  in  August,  1708,  to  have  amounted  to  a  thousand 
pounds.  These  pecuniary  transactions  probably  led 
to  frequent  bickerings.  It  is  said  that,  on  one  occa- 
sion, Steele's  negligence,  or  dishonesty,  provoked  Ad- 
dison to  repay  himself  by  the  help  of  a  bailiff.  AVe 
cannot  join  with  Miss  Aikin  in  rejecting  this  story. 
Johnson  heard  it  from  Savage,  who  heard  it  from  lo 
Steele.  Few  private  transactions  which  took  place  a 
hundred  and  twenty  years  ago,  are  proved  by  stronger 
evidence  than  this.  But  we  can  by  no  means  agree 
with  those  Avho  condemn  Addison's  severity.  The 
most  amiable  of  mankind  may  well  be  moved  to  indig- 
nation, when  what  he  has  earned  hardly,  and  lent 
with  great  inconvenience  to  himself,  for  the  purpose 
of  relieving  a  friend  in  distress,  is  squandered  with 
insane  profusion.  We  will  illustrate  our  meaning  by 
an  example  which  is  not  the  less  striking  because  it  is  20 
taken  from  fiction.  Dr.  Harrison,  in  Fielding's  °  Ame- 
lia, is  represented  as  the  most  benevolent  of  human 
beings ;  yet  he  takes  in  execution,  not  only  the  goods, 
but  the  person  of  his  friend  Booth.  Dr.  Harrison 
resorts  to  this  strong   measure  because  he  has   been 


70  ADDISON 

informed  that  Booth,  while  pleading  poverty  as  an  ex- 
cuse for  not  paying  just  debts,  has  been  buying  fine 
jewelry,  and  setting  up  a  coach.  No  person  who  is 
well  acquainted  with  Steele's  life  and  correspondence 
can  doubt  that  he  behaved  quite  as  ill  to  Addison  as 
Booth  was  accused  of  behaving  to  Dr.  Harrison.  The 
real  history,  we  have  little  doubt,  was  something  like 
this  :  —  A  letter  comes  to  Addison,  imploring  help  in 
pathetic  terms,  promising  reformation  and  speedy  re- 

10  payment.  Poor  Dick  declares  that  he  has  not  an  inch 
of  candle,  or  a  bushel  of  coals,  or  credit  with  the 
butcher  for  a  shoulder  of  mutton.  Addison  is  moved. 
He  determines  to  deny  himself  some  medals  which 
are  wanting  to  his  series  of  the  Twelve  Caesars;  to 
put  off  buying  the  new  edition  of  Bayle's  °  Dictionary ; 
and  to  wear  his  old  sword  and  buckles  another  year. 
In  this  way  he  manages  to  send  a  hundred  pounds  to 
his  friend.  The  next  day  he  calls  on  Steele,  and  finds 
scores  of  gentlemen  and  ladies  assembled.     The  fiddles 

20  are  playing.  The  table  is  groaning  under  Champagne, 
Burgundy,  and  pyramids  of  sweetmeats.  Is  it  strange 
that  a  man  whose  kindness  is  thus  abused,  should  send 
sheriff's  ofiicers  to  reclaim  what  is  due  to  him  ? 

Tickell  was  a  young  man,  fresh  from  Oxford,  who 
had  introduced  himself  to  public  notice  by  writing 


ADDISON"  71 

a  most  ingenious  and  graceful  little  poem  in  praise 
of  the  opera  of  Rosamond.  He  deserved,  and  at 
length  attained,  the  first  place  in  Addison's  friend- 
ship. For  a  time  Steele  and  Tickell  were  on  good 
terms.  But  they  loved  Addison  too  much  to  love 
each  other,  and  at  length  became  as  bitter  enemies 
as  the  rival  bulls  in  Virgil. 

At  the  close  of  1708  Wharton  became  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant of  Ireland,  and  appointed  Addison  Chief 
Secretary.  Addison  was  consequently  under  the  lo 
necessity  of  quitting  London  for  Dublin.  Besides 
the  chief  secretaryship,  which  was  then  Avorth  about 
two  thousand  pounds  a  year,  he  obtained  a  patent 
appointing  him  keeper  of  the  Irish  Records  for  life, 
with  a  salary  of  three  or  four  hundred  a  year. 
Budgell  accompanied  his  cousin  in  the  capacity  of 
private  Secretary. 

AVharton  and  Addison  had  nothing  in  common  but 
Whiggism.  The  Lord  Lieutenant  was  not  only  licen- 
tious and  corrupt,  but  was  distinguished  from  other  20 
libertines  and  jobbers  by  a  callous  impudence  which 
presented  the  strongest  contrast  to  the  Secretary's 
gentleness  and  delicacy.  Many  parts  of  the  Irish 
administration  at  this  time  appear  to  have  deserved 
serious  blame.     But  against  Addison  there  was  not  a 


72  ADDISON 

murmur.     He  long  afterwards  asserted,  what  all  the 
-  evidence  which  we  have  ever  seen  tends  to  prove,  that 
his  diligence  and  integrity  gained  the  friendship  of 
all  the  most  considerable  persons  in  Ireland. 

The  parliamentary  career  of  Addison  in  Ireland  has, 
we  think,  wholly  escaped  the  notice  of  all  his  biog- 
raphers. He  was  elected  member  for  the  borough  of 
Cavan  in  the  summer  of  1709 ;  and  in  the  journals  of 
two  sessions  his  name  frequently  occurs.  Some  of  the 
10  entries  appear  to  indicate  that  he  so  far  overcame  his 
timidity  as  to  make  speeches.  Nor  is  this  by  any 
means  improbable ;  for  the  Irish  House  of  Commons 
was  a  far  less  formidable  audience  than  the  English 
House ;  and  many  tongues  which  were  tied  by  fear  in 
the  greater  assembly  became  fluent  in  the  smaller. 
Gerard  Hamilton,"  for  example,  Avho,  from  fear  of 
losing  the  fame  gained  by  his  single  speech,  sat  mute 
at  Westminster  during  forty  years,  spoke  with  great 
effect  at  Dublin  when  he  was  Secretary  to  Lord 
20  Halifax. 

While  Addison  was  in  Ireland,  an  event  occurred  to 
which  he  owes  his  high  and  permanent  rank  among 
British  writers.  As  yet  his  fame  rested  on  perform- 
ances which,  though  highly  respectable,  were  not 
built  for  duration,  and  which  would,  if  he  had  pro- 


ADDISOy  73 

ducecl  nothiiif]^  else,  have  now  been  almost  forgotten, 
on  some  excellent  Latin  verses,  on  some  English  verses 
which  occasionally  rose  above  mediocrity,  and  on  a 
book  of  travels,  agreeably  written,  bnt  not  indicating 
any  extraordinary  powers  of  mind.  These  works 
showed  him  to  be  a  man  of  taste,  sense,  and  learning. 
The  time  had  come  when  he  was  to  prove  himself  a 
man  of  genius,  and  to  enrich  our  literature  Avith 
compositions  which  will  live  as  long  as  the  English 
language.  lo 

In  the  spring  of  1709  Steele  formed  a  literary 
project,  of  which  he  was  far  indeed  from  foreseeing 
the  consequences.  Periodical  papers  had  during 
many  years  been  published  in  London.  Most  of 
these  were  political ;  but  in  some  of  them  questions 
of  morality,  taste,  and  love  casuistry  had  been  dis- 
cussed. The  literary  merit  of  these  works  was 
small  indeed;  and  even  their  names  are  now  known 
only  to  the  curious. 

Steele  had  been  appointed  Gazetteer  °  by  Sunderland,  20 
at  the  request,  it  is  said,  of  Addison,  and  thus  had 
access  to  foreign  intelligence  earlier  and  more  authen- 
tic than  was  in 'those  times  within  the  reach  of  an 
ordinary  newswriter.  This  circumstance  seems  to 
have  suggested  to  him  the  scheme  of  publishing  a 


74  ADDISON 

periodical  paper  on  a  new  plan.  It  was  to  appear 
on  the  days  on  which  the  post  left  London  for  the 
country,  which  were,  in  that  generation,  the  Tuesdays, 
Thursdays  and  Saturdays.  It  was  to  contain  the 
foreign  news,  accounts  of  theatrical  representations, 
and  the  literary  gossip  of  Will's  and  of  the  G-recian. 
It  was  also  to  contain  remarks  on  the  fashionable 
topics  of  the  day,  compliments  to  beauties,  pasquin- 
ades on  noted   sharpers,   and   criticisms   on  popular 

10  preachers.  The  aim  of  Steele  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  at  first  higher  than  this.  He  was  not  ill 
qualified  to  conduct  the  work  which  he  had  planned. 
His  public  intelligence  he  drew  from  the  best  sources. 
He  knew  the  town,  and  had  paid  dear  for  his  know- 
ledge. He  had  read  much  more  than  the  dissipated 
men  of  that  time  were  in  the  habit  of  reading.  He 
was  a  rake  among  scholars,  and  a  scholar  among 
rakes.  His  style  Avas  easy  and  not  incorrect;  and, 
though  his  wit  and  humor  were  of  no  high  order,  his 

20  gay  animal  spirits  imparted  to  his  compositions  an 
air  of  vivacity  which  ordinary  readers  could  hardly 
distinguish  from  common  genius.  His  writings  have 
been  well  compared  to  those  light  wir^es  which,  though 
deficient  in  body  and  flavor,  are  yet  a  pleasant  small 
drink,  if  not  kept  too  long,  or  carried  too  far. 


ADDISON  75 

Isaac  Bickerstaff,°  Esquire,  Astrologer,  was  an  imag- 
inary person,  almost  as  well  known  in  that  age  as  Mr. 
Paul  Pry  or  Mr.  Samuel  Pickwick  in  ours.  Swift  had 
assumed  the  name  of  Bickerstaff  in  a  satirical  pam- 
phlet against  Partridge,  the  maker  of  almanacs. 
Partridge  had  been  fool  enough  to  publish  a  furious 
reply.  Bickerstaff  had  rejoined  in  a  second  pamphlet 
still  more  diverting  than  the  first.  All  the  wits  had 
combined  to  keep  up  the  joke,  and  the  town  was  long 
in  convulsions  of  laughter.  Steele  determined  to  lo 
employ  the  name,  which  this  controversy  had  made 
popular;  and,  in  1709,  it  was  announced  that  Isaac 
Bickerstaff,  Esquire,  Astrologer,  was  about  to  publish 
a  paper  called  the  Tatler.° 

Addison  had  not  been  consulted  about  this  scheme : 
but  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  it  he  determined  to  give  his 
assistance.  The*  effect  of  that  assistance  cannot  be 
better  described  than  in  Steele's  own  words.  "I 
fared,''  he  said,  "like  a  distressed  prince  who  calls 
in  a  powerful  neighbor  to  his  aid.  I  was  undone  by  20 
my  auxiliary.  When  I  had  once  called  him  in,  I 
could  not  subsist  without  dependence  on  him."  "  The 
paper,"  he  says  elsewhere,  "was  advanced  indeed.  It 
was  raised  to  a  greater  thing  than  I  intended  it." 

It  is  probable  that  Addison,  when  he  sent  across  St. 


7G  ADDISON 

George's  Clianuel  his  first  contributions  to  the  Tatler, 
had  no  notion  of  the  extent  and  variety  of  his  own 
powers.  He  was  the  possessor  of  a  vast  mine,  rich 
with  a  hundred  ores.  But  he  had  been  acquainted 
only  with  the  least  precious  part  of  his  treasures, 
and  had  hitherto  contented  himself  with  producing 
sometimes  copper  and  sometimes  lead,  intermingled 
with  a  little  silver.  All  at  once,  and  by  mere  acci- 
dent, he  had  lighted  on  an  inexhaustible  vein  of  the 

10  finest  gold. 

The  mere  choice  and  arrangement  of  his  words 
would  have  sufficed  to  make  his  essays  classical.  For 
never,  not  even  by  Dryden,  not  even  by  Temple,°  had 
the  English  language  been  written  with  such  sweet- 
ness, grace,  and  facility.  But  this  was  the  smallest 
part  of  Addison's  praise.  Had  he  clothed  his  thoughts 
in  the  half  French  style  of  Horace  Walpole,°  or  in 
the  half  Latin  style  of  Dr.  Johnson,  or  in  the  half 
German  jargon  of  the  present  day,  his  genius  would 

20  have  triumphed  over  all  faults  of  manner.  As  a 
moral  satirist  he  stands  unrivalled.  If  ever  the  best 
Tatlers  and  Spectators  were  equalled  in  their  own 
kind,  we  should  be  inclined  to  guess  that  it  must  have 
been  by  the  lost  comedies  of  Menander.° 

In  wit,  properly  so  called,  Addison  w^as  not  inferior 


ADDISOX  77 

to  Cowley  or  Butler.°  No  single  ode  of  Cowley  con- 
tains so  many  liappy  analogies  as  are  crowded  into  the 
lines  to  Sir  Godfrey  Kneller°;  and  we  would  undertake 
to  collect  from  the  Si)ectators  as  great  a  number  of 
ingenious  illustrations  as  can  be  found  in  Hudibras. 
The  still  higher  faculty  of  invention  Addison  possessed 
in  still  larger  measure.  The  numerous  fictions,  gener- 
ally original,  often  wild  and  grotesque,  but  always 
singidarly  graceful  and  happy,  which  are  found  in 
his  essays,  fully  entitle  him  to  the  rank  of  a  great  ic 
poet,  a  rank  to  which  his  metrical  compositions  give 
him  no  claim.  As  an  observer  of  life,  of  manner,  of 
all  the  shades  of  human  character,  he  stands  in  the 
first  class.  And  what  he  observed  he  had  the  art  of 
communicating  in  two  widely  different  ways.  He 
could  describe  virtues,  vices,  habits,  whims,  as  well  as 
Clarendon. °  But  he  could  do  something  better.  He 
could  call  human  beings  into  existence,  and  make  them 
exhibit  themselves.  If  we  wish  to  find  anything  more 
vivid  than  Addison's  best  portraits,  we  must  go  either  20 
to  Shakespeare  or  Cervantes. ° 

But  what  shall  we  say  of  Addison's  humor,  of  his 
sense  of  the  ludicrous,  of  his  power  of  awakening  that 
sense  in  others,  and  of  drawing  mirth  from  incidents 
which  occur  every  day,  and  from  little  peculiarities  of 


78  ADDISON 

temper  and  manner,  such  as  may  be  found  in  every 
'  man  ?     We  feel  the  charm :   we  give  ourselves  up  to 
it :  but  we  strive  in  vain  to  analyze  it. 

Perhaps  the  best  way  of  describing  Addison's  pecul- 
iar pleasantry  is  to  compare  it  with  the  pleasantry  of 
some  other  great  satirists.  The  three  most  eminent 
masters  of  the  art  of  ridicule  during  the  eighteenth 
century,  were,  we  conceive,  Addison,  Swift,  and  Vol- 
taire."    Which  of  the  three  had  the  greatest  power  of 

10  moving  laughter  may  be  questioned.  But  each  of 
them,  within  his  own  domain,  was  supreme. 

Voltaire  is  the  prince  of  buffoons.  His  merriment 
is  without  disguise  or  restraint.  He  gambols;  he 
grins;  he  shakes  the  sides;  he  points  the  finger;  he 
turns  up  the  nose;  he  shoots  out  the  tongue.  The 
manner  of  Swift  is  the  very  opposite  to  this.  He 
moves  laughter,  but  never  joins  in  it.  He  appears  in 
his  works  such  as  he  appeared^ in  society.  All  the  com- 
pany are  convulsed  with  merriment,  while  the  Dean, 

20  the  author  of  all  the  mirth,  preserves  an  invincible 
gravity,  and  even  sourness  of  aspect",  and  gives  utter- 
ance to  the  most  eccentric  and  ludicrous  fancies,  with 
the  air  of  a  man  reading  the  commination  service. 

The  manner  of  Addison  is  as  remote  from  that  of 
Swift  as  from  that  of   Voltaire.     He  neither  laughs 


ADDISON  79 

out  like  the  Frencli  wit,  nor,  like  the  Irish  wit,  throws 
a  double  portion  of  severity  into  his  countenance 
while  laughing  inwardly,  but  preserves  a  look  pecul- 
iarly his  own,  a  look  of  demure  serenity,  disturbed 
only  by  an  arch  sparkle  of  the  eye,  an  almost  imper- 
ceptible elevation  of  the  brow,  an  almost  impercepti- 
ble curl  of  the  lip.  His  tone  is  never  that  either  of 
a  Jack  Pudding  °  or  of  a  Cynic.°  It  is  that  of  a 
gentleman,  in  whom  the  quickest  sense  of  the  ridicu- 
lous is  constantly  tempered  by  good  nature  and  good  lo 
breeding. 

We  own  that  the  humor  of  Addison  is,  in  our  opinion, 
of  a  more  delicate  flavor  than  the  humor  of  either 
Swift  or  Voltaire.  Thus  much,  at  least,  is  certain, 
that  both  Swift  and  Voltaire  have  been  successfully 
mimicked,  and  that  no  man  has  yet  been  able  to  mimic 
Addison.  The  letter  of  the  Abbe  Coyer  °  to  Pan- 
sophe  is  Voltaire  all  over,  and  imposed,  during  a  long 
time  on  the  Academicians  of  Paris.  There  are  pas- 
sages in  Arbuthnot's  °  satirical  works  which  we,  at  20 
least,  cannot  distinguish  from  Swift's  best  writing. 
But  of  the  many  eminent  men  who  have  made  Addi- 
son their  model,  though  several  have  copied  his  mere 
diction  with  happy  effect,  none  have  been  able  to 
catch  the  tone  of  his  pleasantry.     In  the  World,°  in 


80  ADDISON 

the  Connoisseurj  in  the  Mirror,  in  the  Lounger, 
there  are  numerous  papers  written  in  obvious  imita- 
tion of  his  Tatlers  and  Spectators.  Most  of  these 
papers  have  some  merit:  many  are  very  lively  and 
amusing ;  but  there  is  not  a  single  one  which  could  be 
passed  off  as  Addison's  on  a  critic  of  the  smallest 
perspicacity. 

But  that  which  chiefly  distinguishes  Addison  from 
Swift,  from'  Voltaire,  from  almost  all  the  other  great 

10  masters  of  ridicule,  is  the  grace,  the  nobleness,  the 
moral  purity,  which  we  find  even  in  his  merriment. 
Severity,  gradually  hardening  and  darkening  into 
misanthropy,  characterizes  the  works  of  Swift.  The 
nature  of  Voltaire  was,  indeed,  not  inhuman ;  but  he 
venerated  nothing.  Neither  in  the  masterpieces  of 
art  nor  in  the  purest  examples  of  virtue,  neither  in 
the  Great  First  Cause  nor  in  the  awful  enigma  of  the 
grave,  could  he  see  anything  but  subjects  for  drollery. 
The   more  solemn  and   august  the   theme,  the   more 

20  monkey-like  was  his  grimacing  and  chattering.  The 
mirth  of  Swift  is  the  mirth  of  Mephistopheles  ° ;  the 
mirth  of  Voltaire  is  the  mirth  of  Puck.°  If,  as  Soame 
Jenyns  °  oddly  imagined,  a  portion  of  the  happiness  of 
Seraphim  and  just  men  made  perfect  be  derived  from 
an  exquisite  perception  of  the  ludicrous,  their  mirth 


ADDISON  81 

must  surely  be  none  other  than  the  mirth  of  Addi- 
son; a  mirth  consistent  with  tender  compassion  for 
all  that  is  frail,  and  with  profound  reverence  for  all 
that  is  sublime.  Nothing  great,  nothing  amiable,  no 
moral  duty,  no  doctrine  of  natural  or  revealed  religion, 
has  ever  been  associated  by  Addison  with  any  degrad- 
ing idea.  -His  humanity  is  without  a  parallel  in  liter- 
ary history.  The  highest  proof  of  virtue  is  to  possess 
boundless  power  without  abusing  it.  ISTo  kind  of  power 
is  more  formidable  than  the  power  of  making  men  lo 
ridiculous ;  and  that  power  Addison  possessed  in 
boundless  measure.  How  grossly  that  power  was 
abused  by  Swift  and  by  Voltaire  is  well  known.  But 
of  Addison  it  may  be  confidently  affirmed  that  he  has 
blackened  no  man's  character,  nay,  that  it  would  be 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  find  in  all  the  volumes 
which  he  has  left  us  a  single  taunt  which  can  be 
called  ungenerous  or  unkind.  Yet  he  had  detractors, 
whose  malignity  might  have  seemed  to  justify  as  ter- 
rible a  revenge  as  that  which  men,  not  superior  to  him  20 
in  genius,  wreaked  on  Bettesworth  °  and  on  Franc  de 
Pompignan.°  He  was  a  politician ;  he  was  the  best 
w^riter  of  his  party ;  he  lived  in  times  of  fierce  excite- 
ment, in  times  when  persons  of  high  character  and 
station  stooped  to  scurrility  such  as  is  now  practised 


82  ADDISON 

onjy  by  the  basest  of  mankind.  Yet  no  provocation 
and  no  example  could  induce  him  to  return  railing  for 
railing. 

Of  the  service  which  his  essays  rendered  to  moral- 
ity it  is  difficult  to  speak  too  highly.  It  is  true,  that, 
when  the  Tatler  appeared,  that  age  of  outrageous 
profaneness  and  licentiousness  which  followed  the 
Kestoration  had  passed  away.  Jeremy  Collier"  had 
shamed  the  theatres  into  something  which,  compared 

JO  with  the  excesses  of  Etherege°  and  Wycherley,°  might 
be  called  decency.  Yet  there  still  lingered  in  the 
public  mind  a  pernicious  notion  that  there  was  some 
connection  between  genius  and  profligacy,  between  the 
domestic  virtues  and  the  sullen  formality  of  the  Puri- 
tans. That  error  it  is  the  glory  of  Addison  to  have 
dispelled.  He  taught  the  nation  that  the  faith  and 
the  morality  of  Hale  °  and  Tillotson  °  might  be  found 
in  company  with  wit  more  sparkling  than  the  wit  of 
Congreve,  and  with  humor  richer  than  the  humor  of 

2oVanbrugh.°  So  effectually,  indeed,  did  he  retort  on 
vice  the  mockery  which  had  recently  been  directed 
against  virtue,  that,  since  his  time,  the  open  violation 
of  decency  has  always  been  considered  among  us  as 
the  mark  of  a  fool.  And  this  revolution,  the  greatest 
and  most  salutary  ever  eifected  by  any  satirist,  he 


ADDISON  83 

accomplished,  be  it  remembered,  without  writing  one 
personal  lampoon. 

In  the  early  contributions  of  xVddison  to  the  Tatler 
his  peculiar  powers  were  not  fully  exhibited.  Yet 
from  the  first,  his  superiority  to  all  his  coadjutors  was 
evident.  Some  of  his  later  Tatlers  are  fully  equal  to 
anything  that  he  ever  wrote.  Among  the  portraits, 
we  most  admire  Tom  Folio,°  Ned  Softly,°  and  the 
Political  Upholsterer."  The  proceedings  of  the  Court 
of  Honor,°  the  Thermometer  of  Zeal,°  the  story  of  the  lo 
Frozen  Words,"  the  Memoirs  of  the  Shilling,"  are 
excellent  specimens  of  that  ingenious  and  lively 
species  of  fiction  in  which  Addison  excelled  all  men. 
There  is  one  still  better  paper  of  the  same  class.  But 
though  that  paper,  a  hundred  and  thirty-three  years 
ago,  was  probably  thought  as  edifying  as  one  of 
Smalridge's  °  sermons,  we  dare  not  indicate  it  to  the 
squeamish  readers  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

During  the  session  of  Parliament  which  commenced 
in  November,  1709,  and  which  the  impeachment  of  20 
Sacheverell  has  made  memorable,  Addison  appears  to 
have  resided  in  London.  The  Tatler  was  now  more 
popular  than  any  periodical  paper  had  ever  been ;  and 
his  connection  with  it  was  generally  known.  It  was 
not  known,  however,  that  almost  everything  good  in 


84  ADDISON 

the  Tatler  was  his.  The  truth  is,  that  the  fifty  or 
sixty  numbers  which  we  owe  to  him  were  not  merely 
the  best,  but  so  decidedly  the  best  that  any  five  of 
them  are  more  valuable  than  all  the  two  hundred 
numbers  in  which  he  had  no  share.° 

He  required,  at  this  time,  all  the  solace  which  he 
could  derive  from  literary  success.  The  Queen  had 
always  disliked  the  Whigs.  She  had  during  some 
years  disliked  the  Marlborough  family.     But,  reigning 

10  by  a  disputed  title,  she  could  not  yenture  directly  to 
oppose  herself  to  a  majority  of  both  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment ;  and,  engaged  as  she  was  in  a  war  °  on  the  event 
of  which  her  own  Crown  was  staked,  she  could  not 
venture  to  disgrace  a  great  and  successful  general. 
But  at  length,  in  the  year  1710,  the  causes  which  had 
restrained  her  from  showing  her  aversion  to  the  Low 
Church  party  ceased  to  operate.  The  trial  of  Sachev- 
erell  produced  an  outbreak  of  public  feeling  scarcely 
less  violent  than  the  outbreaks  which  we  can  ourselves 

20  remember  in  1820,  and  in  1831.°  The  country  gentle- 
men, the  country  clergymen,  the  rabble  of  the  towns, 
were  all  for  once,  on  the  same  side.  It  was  clear  that, 
if  a  general  election  took  place  before  the  excitement 
abated,  the  Tories  would  have  a  majority.  The  ser- 
vices of  Marlborough  had  been  so  splendid  that  they 


ADDISON  85 

were  no  longer  necessary.  The  Queen's  throne  Tvas 
secure  from  all  attacks  on  the  part  of  Lewis.  Indeed, 
it  seemed  much  more  likely  that  the  English  and  Ger- 
man armies  would  divide  the  spoils  of  Versailles  °  and 
Marli  °  than  that  a  Marshal  of  France  would  bring 
back  the  Pretender  to  St.  James's. °  The  Queen,  act- 
ing by  the  advice  of  Harley,  determined  to  dismiss  her 
servants.  In  June  the  change  commenced.  Sunder- 
land was  the  first  who  fell.  The  Tories  exulted  over 
his  fall.  The  AYhigs  tried,  during  a  few  weeks,  to  lo 
persuade  themselves  that  her  ^Majesty  had  acted  only 
from  personal  dislike  to  the  Secretary,  and  that  she 
meditated  no  further  alteration.  But,  early  in  August, 
Godolphin  was  surprised  by  a  letter  from  Anne,  which 
directed  him  to  break  his  white  staff.°  Even  after  this 
event,  the  irresolution  or  dissimulation  of  Harley  kept 
up  the  hopes  of  the  Whigs  during  another  month: 
and  then  the  ruin  became  rapid  and  violent.  The 
Parliament  was  dissolved.  The  Ministers  were  turned 
out.  The  Tories  were  called  to  office.  The  tide  of  20 
popularity  ran  violently  in  favor  of  the  High  Church 
party.  That  party,  feeble  in  the  late  House  of  Com- 
mons, was  now  irresistible.  The  power  which  the 
Tories  had  thus  suddenly  acquired,  they  used  with  . 
blind  and  stupid  ferocity.     The  howl  which  the  whole 


86  ADDISON 

pack  set  up  for  prey  and  for  blood  appalled  even  him 
who  had  roused  and  unchained  them.  When,  at  this 
distance  of  time,  we  calmly  review  the  conduct  of 
the  discarded  ministers,  we  cannot  but  feel  a  move- 
ment of  indignation  at  the  injustice  with  which  they 
were  treated.  No  body  of  men  had  ever  administered 
the  government  with  more  energy,  ability,  and  moder- 
ation; and  their  success  had  been  proportioned  to 
their   wisdom.      They  had   saved  Holland   and   Ger- 

10  many.  They  had  humbled  France.  They  had,  as  it 
seemed,  all  but  torn  Spain  from  the  house  of  Bourbon. 
They  had  made  England  the  first  power  in  Europe. 
At  home  they  had  united  England  and  Scotland. 
They  had  respected  the  rights  of  conscience  and  the 
liberty  of  the  subjects.  They  retired,  leaving  their 
country  at  the  height  of  prosperity  and  glory.  And 
yet  they  were  pursued  to  their  retreat  by  such  a  roar 
of  obloquy  as  was  never  raised  against  the  government 
which  threw  away   thirteen   colonies,  or  against  the 

20  government  which  sent  a  gallant  army  to  perish  in  the 
ditches  of  Walcheren.° 

None  of  the  Whigs  suffered  more  in  the  general 
wreck  than  Addison.  He  had  just  sustained  some 
heavy  pecuniary  losses,  of  the  nature  of  which  we  are 
imperfectly   informed,  when   his   Secretaryship   was 


ADDISON  87 

taken  from  him.  He  had  reason  to  believe  that  he 
should  also  be  deprived  of  the  small  Irish  office  which 
he  held  by  patent.  He  had  just  resigned  his  Fellow- 
ship. It  seems  probable  that  he  had  already  ventured 
to  raise  his  eyes  to  a  great  lady,  and  that,  while  his 
political  friends  were  in  power,  and  while  his  own  fort- 
unes were  rising,  he  had  been,  in  the  phrase  of  the 
romances  which  were  then  fashionable,  permitted  to 
hope.  But  Mr.  Addison  the  ingenious  writer,  and  ^Ir. 
Addison  the  Chief  Secretar}^,  were,  in  her  ladyship's  lo 
opinion,  two  very  different  persons.  All  these  calam- 
ities united,  however,  could  not  disturb  the  serene 
cheerfulness  of  a  mind  conscious  of  innocence,  and  rich 
in  its  own  wealth.  He  told  his  friends,  with  smiling 
resignation,  that  they  ought  to  admire  his  philosophy, 
that  he  had  lost  at  once  his  fortune,  his  place,  his  Fel- 
lowship, and  his  mistress,  that  he  must  think  of  turn- 
ing tutor  again,  and  yet  that  his  spirits  were  as  good 
as  ever. 

He  had  one  consolation.  Of  the  unpopularity  which  20 
his  friends  had  incurred,  he  had  no  share.  Such  was 
the  esteem  with  which  he  was  regarded  that,  while  the 
most  violent  measures  were  taken  for  the  purpose  of 
forcing  Tory  members  on  Whig  corporations,  he  was 
returned  to  Parliament  without  even  a  contest.     Swift, 


88  ADDISON 

who  was  now  in  London,  and  who  had  already  deter- 
mined on  quitting  the  Whigs,  wrote  to  Stella  in  these 
remarkable  words:  "The  Tories  carry  it  among  the 
new  members  six  to  one.  Mr.  Addison's  election  has 
passed  easy  and  undisputed ;  and  I  believe  if  he  had  a 
mind  to  be  king  he  would  hardly  be  refused." 

The  good-will  with  which  the  Tories  regarded  Addi- 
son is  the- more  honorable  to  him,  because  it  had  not 
been  purchased  by  any  concession  on  his  part.     Dur- 

10  ing  the  general  election  he  published  a  political  Jour- 
nal, entitled  the  Whig  Examiner."  Of  that  Journal,  it 
may  be  sufficient  to  say  that  Johnson,  in  spite  of  his 
strong  political  prejudices,  pronounced  it  to  be  supe- 
rior in  wit  to  any  of  Swift's  writings  on  the  other  side. 
When  it  ceased  to  appear.  Swift,  in  a  letter  to  Stella, 
expressed  his  exultation  at  the  death  of  so  formidable 
an  antagonist.  "  He  might  well  rejoice,"  says  Johnson, 
"  at  the  death  of  that  which  he  could  not  have  killed." 
"  On  no  occasion,"  he  adds,  "  was  the  genius  of  Addison 

20  more  vigorously  exerted,  and  on  none  did  the  superior- 
ity of  his  powers  more  evidently  appear." 

The  only  use  which  Addison  appears  to  have  made 
of  the  favor  with  which  he  was  regarded  by'  the 
Tories  was  to  save  some  of  his  friends  from  the  gen- 
eral ruin  of  the  Wliig  party.     He  felt  himself  to  be 


ADDISON  89 

in  a  situation  which  made  it  his  duty  to  take  a 
decided  part  in  politics.  But  the  case  of  Steele 
and  Ambrose  Phillips  was  different.  For  Phillips, 
Addison  even  condescended  to  solicit,  with  what 
success  we  have  not  ascertained.  Steele  held  two 
places.  He  was  Gazetteer,  and  he  was  also  a  Com- 
missioner of  Stamps.  The  Gazette  was  taken  from 
him.  But  he  was  suffered  to  retain  his  place  in  the 
Stamp  Office,  on  an  implied  understanding  that  he 
should  not  be  active  against  the  new  government ;  lo 
and  he  was,  during  more  than  two  years,  induced  by 
Addison  to  observe  this  armistice  with  tolerable 
fidelity. 

Isaac  Bickerstaff  accordingly  became  silent  upon 
politics,  and  the  article  of  news  which  had  once 
formed  about  one-third  of  his  paper,  altogether 
disappeared.  The  Tatler  had  completely  changed 
its  character.  It  was  now  nothing  but  a  series  of 
essays  on  books,  morals,  and  manners.  Steele  there- 
fore resolved  to  bring  it  to  a  close  and  to  commence  20 
a  new  work  on  an  improved  plan.  It  was  announced 
that  this  new  work  would  be  published  daily.  The 
undertaking  was  generally  regarded  as  bold,  or 
rather  rash ;  but  the  event  amply  justified  the  confi- 
dence with  which  Steele   relied   on  the   fertility  of 


90  ADDISON 

Addison's  genius.  On  the  second  of  January,  1711, 
appeared  the  last  Tatler.  At  the  beginning  of  March 
following  appeared  the  first  of  an  incomparable  series 
of  papers,  containing  observations  on  life  and  litera- 
ture by  an  imaginary  Spectator.^ 

The  Spectator  himself  was  conceived  and  drawn  by 
Addison ;  and  it  is  not  easy  to  doubt  that  the  portrait 
was  meant  to  be  in  some  features  a  likeness  of  the 
painter.     The  Spectator  is  a  gentleman   who,   after 

10  passing  a  studious  youth  at  the  university,  has 
travelled  on  classic  ground,  and  has  bestowed  much 
attention  on  curious  points  of  antiquity.  He  has, 
on  his  return,  fixed  his  residence  in  London,  and  has 
observed  all  the  forms  of  life  which  are  to  be  found 
in  that  great  city,  has  daily  listened  to  the  wits  of 
Will's,  has  smoked  with  the  philosophers  of  the 
Grecian,  and  has  mingled  with  the  parsons  at  Child's, 
and  with  the  politicians  at  the  St.  James's.  In  the 
morning,   he   often  listens   to   the   hum   of  the  Ex- 

20  change ;  in  the  evening,  his  face  is  constantly  to  be 
seen  in  the  pit  of  Drury  Lane  theatre.  But  an  in- 
surmountable bashfulness  prevents  him  from  opeuing 
his  mouth,  except  in  a  small  circle  of  intimate  friends. 
These  friends  were  first  sketched  by  Steele.  Four 
of  the  club,  the  templar,  the  clergyman,  the  soldier, 


ADDISON  91 

and  the  merchant,  were  uninteresting  figures,  fit  only 
for  a  background.  But  the  other  two,  an  old  country 
baronet  and  an  old  town  rake,  though  not  delineated 
with  a  very  delicate  pencil,  had  some  good  strokes. 
Addison  took  the  rude  outlines  into  his  own  hands, 
retouched  them,  colored  them,  and  is  in  truth  the 
creator  of  the  Sir  Roger  de  Coverley  and  the  Will 
Honeycomb  with  whom  we  are  all  familiar. 

The  plan  of  the  Spectator  must  be  allowed  to  be 
both  original  and  .eminently  happy.  Every  valuable  lo 
essay  in  the  series  may  be  read  with  pleasure  sepa- 
rately; yet  the  five  or  six  hundred  essays  form  a 
whole,  and  a  whole  which  has  the  interest  of  a  novel. 
It  must  be  remembered,  too,  that  at  that  time  no 
novel,  giving  a  lively  and  powerful  picture  of  the 
common  life  and  manners  of  England,  had  appeared. 
Eichardson**  was  w^orking  as  a  compositor.  Fielding 
was  robbing  birds'  nests.  Smollett  °  was  not  yet  born. 
The  narrative,  therefore,  w^hich  connects  together  the 
Spectator's  Essays,  gave  to  our  ancestors  their  first  20 
taste  of  an  exquisite  and  untried  pleasure.  That 
narrative  w^as  indeed  constructed  Avitli  no  art  or 
labor.  The  events  were  such  events  as  occur  every 
day.  Sir  Roger  comes  up  to  town  to  see  Eugenio, 
as  the  worthy  baronet  always  calls  Prince  Eugene, 


92  ADDISON 

'  goes  with  the  Spectator  on  the  water  to  Spring  Gar- 
dens, walks  among  the  tombs  in  the  Abbey,  and  is 
frightened  by  the  Mohawks,°  but  conquers  his  appre- 
hension so  far  as  to  go  to  the  theatre  when  the  Dis- 
tressed Mother  °  is  acted.  The  Spectator  pays  a  visit 
in  the  summer  to  Coverley  Hall,  is  charmed  with  the 
old  house,  the  old  butler,  and  the  old  chaplain,  eats 
a  jack  caught  by  Will  Wimble,  rides  to  the  assizes, 
and  hears  a  point  of  law  discussed  by  Tom  Touchy. ° 

10  At  last  a  letter  from  the  honest  butler  brings  to  the 
club  the  news  that  Sir  Eoger  is  dead.  Will  Honey- 
comb marries  and  reforms  at  sixty.  The  club  breaks 
up ;  and  the  Spectator  resigns  his  functions.  Such 
events  can  hardly  be  said  to  form  a  plot;  yet  they 
are  related 'with  such  truth,  such  grace,  such  wit, 
such  humor,  such  pathos,  such  knowledge  of  the 
human  heart,  such  knowledge  of  the  ways  of  the 
world,  that  they  charm  us  on  the  hundredth  perusal. 
We  have  not  the  least  doubt  that  if  Addison   had 

20  written  a  novel,  on  an  extensive  plan,  it  would  have 
been  superior  to  any  that  we  possess.  As  it  is,  he  is 
entitled  to  be  considered  not  only  as  the  greatest  of 
the  English  essayists,  but  as  the  forerunner  of  the 
great  English  novelists. 

We  say  this  of  Addison  alone;  for  Addisoli  is  the 


ADDISON  93 


Spectator.  About  three  sevenths  of  the  work  are  his ; 
and  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  his  worst  essay 
is  as  good  as  the  best  essay  of  any  of  his  coadjutors. 
His  best  essays  approach  near  to  absolute  perfection ; 
nor  is  their  excellence  more  wonderful  than  their 
variety.  His  invention  never  seems  to  flag ;  nor  is  he 
ever  under  the  necessity  of  repeating  himself,  or  of 
wearing  out  a  subject.  There  are  no  dregs  in  his 
wine.  He  regales  us  after  the  fashion  of  that  prodigal 
nabob  °  who  held  that  there  was  only  one  good  glass  in  lo 
a  bottle.  As  soon  as  we  have  tasted  the  first  sparkling 
foam  of  a  jest,  it  is  withdrawn  and  a  fresh  draught  of 
nectar  is  at  our  lips.  On  the  Monday  *we  have  an 
allegory  as  lively  and  ingenious  as  Lucian's°  Auction 
of  Lives;  on  the  Tuesday,  an  Eastern  apologue  as 
richly  colored  as  the  Tales  of  Scheherezade  ° ;  on  the 
Wednesday,  a  character  described  with  the  skill  of  a 
La  Briiyere  ° ;  on  the  Thursday,  a  scene  from  common 
life,  equal  to  the  best  chapters  in  the  Vicar  of  Wake- 
field ;  on  the  Eriday  some  sly  Horatian  pleasantry  on  20 
fashionable  follies,  on  hoops,  patches,  or  puppet  shows ; 
and  on  the  Saturday  a  religious  meditation,  which  will 
bear  a  comparison  with  the  finest  passages  in  Mas- 
sillon.° 

It  is  danjjerous  to  select  where  there  is  so  much  that 


04  ADDISON 

deserves  the  highest  praise.  We  will  venture,  however, 
to  say  that  any  person  who  wishes  to  form  a  notion  of 
the  extent  and  variety  of  Addison's  powers,  will  do 
well  to  read  at  one  sitting  the  following  papers :  the 
two  Visits  to  the  Abbey,  the  Visit  to  the  Exchange, 
the  Journal  of  the  Eetired  Citizen,  the  Vision  of 
Mirza,  the  Transmigrations  of  Pug  the  Monkey,  and 
the  Death  of  Sir  Roger  de  Coverley.* 

The  least  valuable  of  Addison's  contributions  to  the 

10  Spectator  are,  in  the  judgment  of  our  age,  his  critical 
papers.  Yet  his  critical  papers  are  always  luminous, 
and  often  ingenious.  The  very  worst  of  them  must  be 
regarded  as  creditable  to  him,  when  the  character  of 
the  school  in  which  he  had  been  trained  is  fairly  con- 
sidered. The  best  of  them  were  much  too  good  for  his 
readers.  In  truth,  he  was  not  so  far  behind  our 
generation  as  he  was  before  his  own.  No  essays  in 
the  Spectator  were  more  censured  and  derided  than 
those  in  which  he  raised  his  voice  against  the  contempt 

20  with  which  our  fine  old  ballads  were  regarded,  and 
showed  the  scoffers  that  the  same  gold  which,  burn- 
ished and  polished,  gives  lustre  to  the  ^neid  and  the 

*  Nos.  26,  329,  69,  317,  159,  343,  517.  These  papers  are  all  in  the 
first  seven  volumes.  The  eighth  must  be  considered  as  a  separate 
work. 


ADDISON  95 

Odes  of  Horace,  is  mingled  with  the  rude  dross  of 
Chevy  Chace.° 

It  is  not  strange  that  the  success  of  the  Spectator 
should  have  been  such  as  no  similar  work  has  ever 
obtained.  The  number  of  copies  daily  distributed 
was  at  first  three  thousand.  It  subsequently  in- 
creased, and  had  risen  to  near  four  thousand  when 
the  stamp  tax  was  imposed. °  That  tax  was  fatal  to 
a  crowd  of  journals.  The  Spectator,  however,  stood 
its  ground,  doubled  its  price,  and,  though  its  circula-  lo 
tion  fell  off,  still  yielded  a  large  revenue  both  to  the 
state  and  to  the  authors.  For  particular  papers,  the 
demand  was  immense ;  of  some,  it  is  said,  twenty 
thousand  copies  were  required.  But  this  was  not  all. 
To  have  the  Spectator  served  up  every  morning  with 
the  bohea  and  rolls  was  a  luxury  for  the  few.  The 
majority  were  content  to  wait  till  essays  enough  had 
appeared  to  form  a  volume.  Ten  thousand  copies  of 
each  volume  were  immediately  taken  off,  and  new 
editions  were  called  for.  It  must  be  remembered  20 
that  the  population  of  England  was  then  hardly  a 
third  of  what  it  now  is.  The  number  of  Englishmen 
who  were  in  the  habit  of  reading,  was  probably  not 
a  sixth  of  what  it  now  is.  A  shop-keeper  or  a  farmer 
who   found  any  pleasure  in  literature,  was  a  rarity. 


96  ADDISON 

Nay,  there  was  doubtless  more  than  one  knight  of  the 
shire  whose  country  seat  did  not  contain  ten  books, 
receipt  books  and  books  on  farriery  included.  In 
these  circumstances,  the  sale  of  the  Spectator  must 
be  considered  as  indicating  a  popularity  quite  as 
great  as  that  of  the  most  successful  works  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott  and  Mr.  Dickens  in  our  own  time. 

At  the  close  of  1712  the  Spectator  ceased  to  appear. 
It  was  probably  felt  that  the  short-faced  gentleman 

10 and  his  club  had  been  long  enough  before  the  town; 
and  that  it  was  time  to  withdraw  them,  and  to  replace 
them  by  a  new  set  of  characters.  In  a  few  weeks  the 
first  number  of  the  Guardian  °  was  published.  But  the 
Guardian  was  unfortunate  both  in  its  birth  and  in  its 
death.  It  began  in  dulness  and  disappeared  in  a  tem- 
pest of  faction.  The  original  plan  was  bad.  Addison 
contributed  nothing  until  sixty-two  numbers  had  ap- 
peared ;  and  it  was  then  impossible  to  make  the  Guar- 
dian what  the  Spectator  had  been.     Nestor  Ironside 

20  and  the  Miss  Lizards  were  people  to  whom  even  he 
could  impart  no  interest.  He  could  only  furnish 
some  excellent  little  essays,  both  serious  and  comic; 
and  this  he  did. 

Why  Addison  gave  no  assistance  to  the  Guardian 
during  the  first  two  months  of  its  existence,  is  a  ques- 


ADDISON  97 

tion  Tvhich  has  puzzled  tlie  editors  and  biographers, 
but  which  seems  to  us  to  admit  of  a  very  easy  solu- 
tion. He  was  then  engaged  in  bringing  his  Cato  °  on 
the  stage. 

The  first  four  acts  of  this  drama  had  been  lying  in 
his  desk  since  his  return  from  Italy.  His  modest  and 
sensitive  nature  shrank  from  the  risk  of  a  public  and 
shameful  failure ;  and,  though  all  who  saw  the  manu- 
script were  loud  in  praise,  some  thought  it  possible 
that  an  audience  might  become  impatient  even  of  very  lo 
good  rhetoric,  and  advised  Addison  to  print  the  play 
without  hazarding  a  representation.  At  length,  after 
many  fits  of  apprehension,  the  poet  yielded  to  the 
urgency  of  his  political  friends,  who  hoped  that  the 
public  would  discover  some  analogy  between  the  fol- 
lowers of  Caesar  and  the  Tories,  between  Sempronius 
and  the  apostate  Whigs,  between  Cato,  struggling 
to  the  last  for  the  liberties  of  Rome,  and  the  band 
of  "patriots  who  still  stood  firm  round  Halifax  and 
AYharton.  20 

Addison  gave  the  play  to  the  managers  of  Drury 
Lane  theatre,  without  stipulating  for  any  advantage 
to  himself.  They,  therefore,  thought  themselves 
bound  to  spare  no  cost  in  scenery  and  dresses.  The 
decorations,  it  is  true,  would   not   have   pleased  the 


98  ADDISON 

skilful  eye  of  Mr.  Macready.°  Juba's  waistcoat  blazed 
with  gold  lace ;  Marcia's  hoop  was  Avorthy  of  a 
Duchess  on  the  birthday ;  and  Cato  °  wore  a  wig  worth 
fifty  guineas.  The  prologue  was  written  by  Pope, 
and  is  undoubtedly  a  dignified  and  spirited  compo- 
sition. The  part  of  the  hero  was  excellently  played 
by  Booth. °  Steele  undertook  to  pack  a  house.  The 
boxes  were  in  a  blaze  with  the  stars  of  the  Peers  in 
Opposition.     The  pit  was  crowded  with  attentive  and 

10  friendly  listeners  from  the  Inns  of  Court  and  the  liter- 
ary coffee-houses.  Sir  G-ilbert  Heathcote,°  Governor  of 
the  Bank  of  England,  was  at  the  head  of  a  powerful 
body  of  auxiliaries  from  the  city,  warm  men  and  true 
Whigs,  but  better  known  at  Jonathan's  and  Garra- 
way's  than  in  the  haunts  of  wits  and  critics. 

These  precautions  were  quite  superfluous.  The  To- 
ries, as  a  body,  regarded  Addison  with  no  unkind  feel- 
ings. Nor  was  it  for  their  interest,  professing,  as  they 
did,  profound  reverence  for  law  and  prescription,  land 

20  abhorrence  both  of  popular  insurrections  and  of  stand- 
ing armies,  to  appropriate  to  themselves  reflections 
thrown  on  the  great  military  chief  and  demagogue, 
who,  with  the  support  of  the  legions  and  of  the  com- 
mon people,  subverted  all  the  ancient  institutions  of 
his  country.     Accordingly,  every  shout  that  was  raised 


ADDISON  99 

by  the  members  of  the  Kit  Cat  was  echoed  by  the  High 
Churchmen  of  the  October ;  and  the  curtain  at  length 
fell  amidst  thunders  of  unanimous  applause. 

The  delight  and  admiration  of  the  town  were  de- 
scribed by  the  Guardian  in  terms  which  we  might 
attribute  to  partiality,  were  it  not  that  the  Examiner, 
the  organ  of  the  Ministry,  held  similar  language.  The 
Tories,  indeed,  found  much  to  sneer  at  in  the  conduct 
of  their  opponents.  Steele  had  on  this,  as  on  other 
occasions,  shown  more  zeal  than  taste  or  judgment.  lo 
The  honest  citizens  who  marched  under  the  orders  of 
Sir  Gibby,°  as  he  was  facetiously  called,  probably  knew 
better  w^hen  to  buy  and  when  to  sell  stock  than  when 
to  clap  and  when  to  hiss  at  a  play,  and  incurred  some 
ridicule  by  making  the  hypocritical  Sempronius  their 
favorite,  and  by  giving  to  his  insincere  rants  louder 
plaudits  than  they  bestowed  on  the  temperate  eloquence 
of  Cato.  AYharton,  too,  who  had  the  incredible  effront- 
ery to  applaud  the  lines  about  flying  from  prosperous 
vice  and  from  the  power  of  impious  men  to  a  private  20 
station,  did  not  escape  the  sarcasms  of  those  who  justly 
thought  that  he  could  fly  from  nothing  more  vicious 
or  impious  than  himself.  The  epilogue,  which  was 
written  by  Garth, °  a  zealous  AVhig,  was  severely  and 
not  unreasonably  censured  as  ignoble  and  out  of  place. 


100  ADDISON 

But  Addison  was  described,  even  by  the  bitterest  Tory- 
writers,  as  a  gentleman  of  wit  and  virtue,  in  whose 
friendship  many  persons  of  both  parties  Were  happy, 
and  whose  name  ought  not  to  be  mixed  up  with  fac- 
tious squabbles.      • 

Of  the  jests  by  which  the  triumph  of  the  Whig 
party  was  disturbed,  the  most  severe  and  happy  was 
Boliugbroke's.  Between  two  acts,  he  sent  for  Booth 
to  his  box,  and  presented  him,  before  the  whole  thear 

lotre,  with  a  purse  of  fifty  guineas  for  defending  the 
cause  of  liberty  so  well  against  a  perpetual  Dictator." 
This  was  a  pungent  allusion  to  the  attempt  which 
Marlborough  had  made,  not  long  before  his  fall,  to 
obtain  a  patent  creating  him  Captain  General  for 
life. 

It  was  April ;  and  in  April,  a  hundred  and  thirty 
years  ago,  the  London  season  was  thought  to  be  far 
advanced.  During  a  whole  month,  however,  Cato  was 
performed  to  overflowing  houses,  and  brought  into  the 

-20  treasury  of  the  theatre  twice  the  gains  of  an  ordinary 
spring.  In  the  summer  the  Drury  Lane  company 
went  down  to  the  Act  at  Oxford,"  and  there,  before  an 
audience  which  retained  an  affectionate  remembrance 
of  Addison's  accomplishments  and  virtues,  his  tragedy 
was  enacted   during   several   days.      The    gownsmen 


ADDISON  101 

began  to  besiege  tlie  theatre  in  the  forenoon,  and  by 
one  in  the  afternoon  all  the  seats  were  filled. 

About  the  merits  of  the  piece  which  had  so  ex- 
traordinary an  effect,  the  public,  we  suppose,  has  made 
up  its  mind.  To  compare  it  with  the  masterpieces  of 
the  Attic  stage,  wdth  the  great  English  dramas  of  the 
time  of  Elizabeth,  or  even  with  the  productions  of 
Schiller's  °  manhood,  would  be  absurd  indeed.  Yet  it 
contains  excellent  dialogue  and  declamation,  and, 
among  plays  fashioned  on  the  Erench  model,  must  be  lo 
allowed  to  rank  high ;  not  indeed  with  Athalie  °  or 
Saul  ° ;  but,  we  think  not  below  Cinna,°  and  certainly 
above  any  other  English  tragedy  of  the  same  school, 
above  many  of  the  plays  of  Corneille,  above  many  of 
the  plays  of  Voltaire  and  Alfieri,  and  above  some 
plays  of  Eacine.  Be  this  as  it  may,  we  have  little 
doubt  that  Cato  did  as  much  as  the  Tatlers,  Spectators, 
and  Ereeholders  united,  to  raise  Addison's  fame  among 
his  contemporaries. 

The  modesty  and  good  nature  of  the  successful  20 
dramatist  had  tamed  even  the  malignity  of  faction. 
But  literary  envy,  it  should  seem,  is  a  fiercer  passion 
than  party  spirit.  It  was  by  a  zealous  Whig  that  the 
fiercest  attack  on  the  Whig  tragedy  was  made.  John 
Dennis  °  published  Eemarks  on  Cato,  which  were  writ- 


102  ADDISON 

ten  with  some  aciiteness  and  with  much  coarseness 
and  asperity.  Addison  neither  defended  himself  nor 
retaliated.  On  many  points  he  had  an  excellent  de- 
fence; and  nothing  would  have  been  easier  than  to 
retaliate ;  for  Dennis  had  written  bad  odes,  bad  trage- 
dies, bad  comedies ;  he  had,  moreover,  a  larger  share 
than  most  men  of  those  infirmities  and  eccentricities 
which  excite  laughter  ;  and  Addison's  power  of  turning 
either  an  absurd  book  or  an  absurd  man  into  ridicule 

10  was  unrivalled.  Addison,  however,  serenely  conscious 
of  his  superiority,  looked  with  pity  on  his  assailant, 
Avhose  temper,  naturally  irritable  and  gloomy,  had 
been  soured  by  want,  by  controversy,  and  by  literary 
failures. 

But  among  the  young  candidates  for  Addison's 
favor,  there  was  one  distinguished  by  talents  from  the 
rest,  and  distinguished,  we  fear,  not  less  by  malignity 
and  insincerity.  Pope  was  only  twenty -five.  But  his 
powers  had  expanded  to  their  full  maturity ;  and  his 

20  best  poem,  the  Kape  of  the  Lock,  had  recently  been 
published.  Of  his  genius,  Addison  had  always  ex- 
pressed high  admiration.  But  Addison  had  early 
discerned,  what  might  indeed  have  been  discerned  by 
an  eye  less  penetrating  than  his,  that  the  diminutive, 
crooked,  sickly  boy  was  eager  to  revenge  himself  on 


ADDISOX  103 

society  for  tlie  uiikinclness  of  nature.  In  the  Specta- 
tor, the  Essay  on  Criticism  had  been  praised  with 
cordial  warmth  ;  but  a  gentle  hint  had  been  added, 
that  the  writer  of  so  excellent  a  poem  would  have 
done  well  to  avoid  ill-natured  personalities.  Pope, 
though  evidently  more  galled  by  the  censure  than 
gratified  by  the  praise,  returned  thanks  for  the  ad- 
monition, and  promised  to  profit  by  it.  The  two 
writers  continued  to  exchange  civilities,  counsel,  and 
small  good  offices.  Addison  publicly  extolled  Pope's  lo 
miscellaneous  pieces;  and  Pope  furnished  Addison 
with  a  prologue.  This  did  not  last  long.  Pope  hated 
Dennis,  whom  he  had  injured  without  provocation. 
The  appearance  of  the  Eemarks  on  Cato  gave  the 
irritable  poet  an  opportunity  of  venting  his  malice 
under  the  show  of  friendship ;  and  such  an  opportu- 
nity couhl  not  but  be  welcomed  to  a  nature  which  was 
implacable  in  enmity,  and  which  always  preferred  the 
tortuous  to  the  straight  path.  He  published,  accord- 
ingly, the  Narrative  of  the  Frenzy  of  John  Dennis.  20 
But  Pope  had  mistaken  his  powers.  He  was  a  great 
master  of  invective  and  sarcasm ;  he  could  dissect  a 
character  in  terse  and  sonorous  couplets,  brilliant  with 
antitheses  :  but  of  dramatic  talent  he  was  altogether 
destitute.     If  he  had  written  a  lampoon  on  Dennis, 


104  ADDISON 

such  as  that  on  Atticiis,°  or  that  on  Sporus,°  the  ohl 
grumbler  would  have  been  crushed.  But  Pope  writing 
dialogue  resembled  —  to  borrow  Horace's  imagery  and 
his  own  —  a  wolf,  which,  instead  of  biting,  should  take 
to  kicking,  or  a  monkey  which  should  try  to  sting. 
The  narrative  is  utterly  contemptible.  Of  argument 
there  is  not  even  the  show;  and  the  jests  are  such  as, 
if  they  were  introduced  into  a  farce,  would  call  forth 
the  hisses  of  the  shilling  gallery.     Dennis  raves  about 

io  the  drama  ;  and  the  nurse  thinks  that  he  is  calling  for 
a  dram.  "There  is,"  he  cries,  "no  peripetia °  in  the 
tragedy,  no  change  of  fortune,  no  change  at  all." 
^■'  Pray,  good  Sir,  be  not  angry,"  says  the  old  woman  ; 
"'  I'll  fetch  change."  This  is  not  exactly  the  pleas- 
antry of  Addison. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Addison  saw  through 
his  officious  zeal,  and  felt  himself  deeply  aggrieved  by 
it.  So  foolish  and  spiteful  a  pamphlet  could  do  him 
no  good,  and,  if  he  were  thought  to  have  any  hand  in 

20  it,  must  do  him  harm.  Gifted  with  incomparable 
powers  of  ridicule,  he  had  never,  even  in  self-defence, 
used  those  powers  inhumanly  or  uncourteously ;  and 
he  was  not  disposed  to  let  others  make  his  fame  and 
his  interests  a  pretext  under  which  they  might  commit 
outrages  from  which  he  had  himself  constantly  ab- 


ADDISON  105 

stained.  He  accordingly  declared  that  he  had  no 
concern  in  the  Karrative,  that  he  disapproved  of  it, 
and  that  if  he  answered  the  Remarks,  he  vrould  answer 
them  like  a  gentleman ;  and  he  took  care  to  communi- 
cate this  to  Dennis.  Pope  was  bitterly  mortified; 
and  to  this  transaction  we  are  inclined  to  ascribe 
the  hatred  with  which  he  ever  after  regarded  Addi- 
son. 

In  September,  1713,  the  Guardian  ceased  to  appear. 
Steele  had  gone  mad  about  politics.  A  general  elec-  lo 
tion  had  just  taken  place :  he  had  been  chosen  member 
for  Stockbridge  ;  and  he  fully  expected  to  play  a  first 
part  in  Parliament.  The  immense  success  of  the 
Tatler  and  Spectator  had  turned  his  head.  He  had 
been  the  editor  of  both  those  papers,  and  was  not  aware 
how  entirely  they  owed  their  influence  and  popularity 
to  the  genius  of  his  friend.  His  spirits,  always  violent, 
were  now  excited  by  vanity,  ambition,  and  faction,  to 
such  a  pitch  that  he  every  day  committed  some  offence 
against  good  sense  and  good  taste.  All  the  discreet  20 
and  moderate  members  of  his  own  party  regretted  and 
condemned  his  folly.  "  I  am  in  a  thousand  troubles," 
Addison  wrote,  ^' about  poor  Dick,  and  wish  that  his 
zeal  for  the  public  may  not  be  ruinous  to  himself. 
But  he  has  sent  me  word  that  he  has  determined  to 


106  ADDISON 

go  on,  and  that  any  advice  I  may  give  him  in  this 
particular  will  have  no  weight  with  him." 

Steele  set  up  a  political  paper  called  the  Englishman," 
which,  as  it  was  not  supported  by  contributions  from 
Addison,  completely  failed.  By  this  work,  by  some 
other  writings  of  the  same  kind,  and  by  the  airs 
which  he  gave  himself  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  new 
Parliament,  he  made  the  Tories  so  angry  that  they 
determined  to  expel  him.     The  Whigs  stood  by  him 

lo  gallantly,  bat  were  unable  to  save  him.  The  vote  of 
expulsion  was  regarded  by  all  dispassionate  men  as 
a  tyrannical  exercise  of  the  power  of  the  majority. 
But  Steele's  violence  and  folly,  though  they  by  no 
means  justified  the  steps  which  his  enemies  took,  had 
completely  disgusted  his  friends ;  nor  did  he  ever 
regain  the  place  which  he  had  held  in  the  public 
estimation. 

Addison  about  this  time  conceived  the  design  of 
adding  an  eighth  volume  to  the  Spectator.     In  June, 

20 1714,  the  first  number  of  the  new  series  appeared,  and 
during  about  six  months  three  papei's  were  published 
weekly.  Nothing  can  be  more  striking  than  the  con- 
trast between  the  Englishman  and  the  eighth  volume 
of  the  Spectator,  between  Steele  without  Addison  and 
Addison  without  Steele;  the  Englishman  is  forgotten. 


ADDISON  107 

The  eighth  volume  of  the  Spectator  contains,  perhaps, 
the  finest  essays,  both  serious  and  playful,  in  the 
English  language. 

Before  this  volume  was  completed,  the  death  of 
Anne  produced  an  entire  change  in  the  administration 
of  public  affairs.  The  blow  fell  suddenly.  It  found 
the  Tory  party  distracted  by  internal  feuds,  and 
unprepared  for  any  great  effort.  Harley  had  just 
been  disgraced.  Bolingbroke,  it  was  supposed,  would 
be  the  chief  minister.  But  the  Queen  was  on  her  lo 
death-bed  before  the  white  staff  had  been  given,  and 
her  last  public  act  was  to  deliver  it  with  a  feeble 
hand  to  the  Duke  of  Shrewsbury.  The  emergency 
produced  a  coalition  between  all  sections  of  public 
men  who  were  attached  to  the  Protestant  succession. 
George  the  First  was  proclaimed  without  opposition. 
A  Council,  in  which  the  leading  Whigs  had  seats,  toj3k 
the  direction  of  affairs  till  the  new  King  should  arrive. 
The  first  act  of  the  Lords  Justices  was  to  appoint 
Addison  their  Secretary.  20 

There  is  an  idle  tradition  that  he  was  directed  to 
prepare  a  letter  to  the  King,  that  he  could  not  satisfy 
himself  as  to  the  style  of  this  composition,  and  that 
the  Lords  Justices  called  in  a  clerk  who  at  once  did 
what  was  wanted.     It  is  not  strange  that  a  story  so 


108  ADDISON 

flattering  to  mediocrity  should  be  popular;  and  we 
are  sorry  to  deprive  dunces  of  their  consolation.  But 
the  truth  must  be  told.  It  was  well  observed  by  Sir 
James  Mackintosh,°  whose  knowledge  of  these  times 
was  unequalled,  that  Addison  never,  in  any  official 
document,  affected  w4t  or  eloquence,  and  that  his 
despatches  are,  without  exception,  remarkable  for 
unpretending  simplicity.  Everybody  who  knows  with 
what  ease  Addison's  finest  essays  w^ere  produced  must 

lobe  convinced  that,  if  well  turned  phrases  had  been 
wanted,  he  would  have  had  no  difficulty  in  finding 
them.  We  are,  however,  inclined  to  believe,  that  the 
story  is  not  absolutely  without  a  foundation.  It  may 
well  be  that  Addison  did  not  know,  till  he  had  con- 
sulted experienced  clerks  who  remembered  the  times 
when  William  the  Third  was  absent  on  the  Continent, 
in  what  form  a  letter  from  the  Council  of  Regency  tc 
the  King  ought  to  be  drawn.  We  think  it  very  likely 
that  the  ablest  statesmen  of  our  time,  Lord  John  Eus- 

20  sell,°  Sir  Robert  Peel,°  Lord  Palmerston,°  for  example, 
would,  in  similar  circumstances,  be  found  quite  as 
ignorant.  Every  office  has  some  little  mysteries  which 
the  dullest  man  may  learn  with  a  little  attention,  and 
which  the  greatest  man  cannot  possibly  know  by 
intuition.      One  paper  must  be  signed  by  the   chief 


ADDISON  109 

of  the  department ;  another  by  his  deputy ;  to  a  third 
the  royal  sign  manual  is  necessary.  One  communica- 
tion is  1;0  be  registered,  and  another  is  not.  One 
sentence  must  be  in  black  ink,  and  another  in  red  ink. 
If  the  ablest  Secretary  for  Ireland  were  moved  to 
the  India  Board,  if  the  ablest  President  of  the  India 
Board  were  moved  to  the  War  Office,  he  would  require 
instructions  on  points  like  these ;  and  we  do  not  doubt 
that  Addison  required  such  instruction  when  he  became, 
for  the  first  time.  Secretary  to  the  Lords  Justices.         lo 

George  the  First  took  possession  of  his  kingdom 
without  opposition.  A  new  ministry  was  formed,  and 
a  new  Parliament  favorable  to  the  Whigs  chosen.  Sun- 
derland °  was  appointed  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland; 
and  Addison  again  went  to  Dublin  as  Chief  Secretary. 

At  Dublin  Swift  resided ;  and  there  was  much  spec- 
ulation about  the  way  in  which  the  Dean  and  the 
Secretary  would  behave  towards  each  other.  The 
relations  which  existed  between  these  remarkable  men 
form  an  interesting  and  pleasing  portion  of  literary  20 
history.  They  had  early  attached  themselves  to  the 
same  political  party  and  to  the  same  patrons.  ^Miile 
Anne's  Whig  ministry  was  in  power,  the  visits  of 
Swift  to  London  and  the  official  residence  of  Addison 
in  Ireland  had  given  them  opportunities  of  knowing 


110  ADDISON 

each  other.  They  were  the  two  shreAvdest  observers 
of  their  age.  But  their  observations  on  each  other 
had  left  them  to  favorable  conclusions.  Swift  did  full 
justice  to  the  rare  powers  of  conversation  which  were 
latent  under  the  bashful  deportment  of  Addison. 
Addison,  on  the  other  hand,  discerned  much  good 
nature  under  the  severe  look  and  manner  of  Swift; 
and,  indeed,  the  Swift  of  1708  and  the  Swift  of  1738 
were  two  very  different  men. 

lo  But  the  paths  of  the  two  friends  diverged  widely. 
The  Whig  statesmen  loaded  Addison  with  solid  bene- 
fits. They  praised  Swift,  asked  him  to  dinner,  and 
did  nothing  more  for  him.  His  profession  laid  him 
under  a  difficulty.  In  the  State  they  could  not  pro- 
mote him ;  and  they  had  reason  to  fear  that,  by 
bestowing  preferment  in  the  Church  on  the  author  of 
the  Tale  of  a  Tub,°  they  might  give  scandal  to  the 
public^  which  had  no  high  opinion  of  their  orthodoxy. 
He  did  not  make  fair  allowance  for  the  difficulties 

20  which  prevented  Halifax  and  Somers  from  serving 
him,  thought  himself  an  ill-used  man,  sacrificed  honor 
and  consistency  to  revenge,  joined  the  Tories,  and 
became  their  most  formidable  champion.  He  soon 
found,  however,  that  his  old  friends  were  less  to 
blame  than  he  had  supposed.     The  dislike  with  which 


ADDISON  111 

the  Queen  and  the  heads  of  the  Church  regarded  him 
was  insurmountable ;  and  it  was  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that  he  obtained  an  ecclesiastical  dignity  of 
no  great  value,  on  condition  of  fixing  his  residence  in 
a  country  which  he  detested. 

Difference  of  political  02)inion  had  produced,  not 
indeed  a  quarrel,  but  a  coldness  between  Swift  and 
Addison.  They  at  length  ceased  altogether  to  see 
each  other.  Yet  there  was  between  them  a  tacit  com- 
pact like  that  between  the  hereditary  guests  in  the  lo 
Iliad. 

''E7X€a  5*  dWrjXcJv  dXeu/xeOa  /cat  Sl   6iJ.i\ov ' 
HoWoI  ixkv  yap  i/xol  Tpwej  KXeiTol  r'  irrlKovpoi, 
'Krelveiv,  8v  kc  deos  ye  iropr)  Kai  iroaal  klx^Ioo^ 
IloXXot  5'  a2  coi   Axcttot,  ivalpefxey,  bv  k€  dvyrjai,. 

It  is  not  strange  that  Addison,  who  calumniated 
and  insulted  nobody,  should  not  have  calumniated  or 
insulted  Swift.  But  it  is  remarkable  that  Swift,  to 
whom  genius  nor  virtue  was  sacred,  and  who  generally 
seemed  to  find,  like  most  other  renegades,  a  peculiar  20 
pleasure  in  attacking  old  friends,  should  have  shown 
so  much  respect  and  tenderness  to  Addison. 

Fortune  had  now  changed.  The  accession  of  the 
House  of  Hanover  had  secured  in  England  the  lib- 
erties of  the  people,  and  in  Ireland  the  dominion  of 


1 12  ADDISON 

the  Protestant  caste.  To  that  caste  Swift  was  more 
odious  than  any  other  man.  He  was  hooted  and  even 
pelted  in  the  streets  of  Dublin ;  and  could  not  venture 
to  ride  along  the  strand  for  his  health  without  the 
attendance  of  armed  servants.  Many  whom  he  had 
formerly  served  now  libelled  and  insulted  him.  At 
this  time  Addison  arrived.  He  had  been  advised  not 
to  show  the  smallest  civility  to  the  Dean  of  St.  Pat- 
rick's.    He  had  answered,  with  admirable  spirit,  that 

lo  it  might  be  necessary  for  men  whose  fidelity  to  their 
party  was  suspected,  to  hold  no  intercourse  with 
political  opponents;  but  that  one  who  had  been  a 
steady  Whig  in  the  worst  times  might  venture,  when 
the  good  cause  was  triumphant,  to  shake  hands  with 
an  old  friend  who  was  one  of  the  vanquished  Tories. 
His  kindness  was  soothing  to  the  proud  and  cruelly 
wounded  spirit  of  Swift;  and  the  two  great  satirists 
resumed  their  habits  of  friendly  intercourse. 

Those  associates  of  Addison,  whose  political  opinions 

20  agreed  with  his,  shared  his  good  fortune.  He  took 
Tickell  with  him  to  Ireland.  He  procured  for  Budg- 
ell  a  lucrative  place  in  the  same  kingdom.  Ambrose 
Phillips  was  provided  for  in  England.  Steele  had 
injured  himself  so  much  by  his  eccentricity  and  per- 
verseness,  that  he  obtained  but  a  very  small  part  of 


ADDISON  113 

what  he  thought  his  due.  He  was,  however,  knighted ; 
he  had  a  place  in  the  household ;  and  he  subsequently 
received  other  marks  of  favor  from  the  court. 

Addison  did  not  remain  long  in  Ireland.  In  1715 
he  quitted  his  Secretaryship  for  a  seat  at  the  Board  of 
Trade.°  In  the  same  year  his  comedy  of  the  Drummer 
was  brought  on  the  stage.  The  name  of  the  author 
was  not  announced;  the  piece  was  coldly  received; 
and  some  critics  have  expressed  a  doubt  whether  it 
were  really  Addison's.  To  us  the  evidence,  both  ex-  lo 
ternal  and  internal,  seems  decisive.  It  is  not  in  Addi- 
son's best  manner ;  but  it  contains  numerous  passages 
which  no  other  writer  known  to  us  could  have  pro- 
duced. It  was  again  performed  after  Addison's  death, 
and,  being  known  to  be  his,  was  loudly  applauded. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1715,  while  the  Rebel- 
lion °  was  still  raging  in  Scotland,  Addison  published 
the  first  number  of  a  paper  called  the  Freeholder." 
Among  his  political  works  the  Freeholder  is  entitled 
to  the  first  place.  Even  in  the  Spectator  there  are  20 
few  serious  papers  nobler .  than  the  character  of  'iiis 
friend  Lord  Somers,  and  certainly  no  satirical  papers 
superior  to  those  in  which  the  Tory  foxhunter  is 
introduced.  This  character  is  the  original  of  Squire 
Western,  and  is  drawn  with  all  Fielding's  force,  and 


114  ADDISON 

with  a  delicacy  of  which  Fielding  was  altogether 
destitute.  As  none  of  Addison's  works  exhibit 
stronger  marks  of  his  genius  than  the  Freeholder, 
so  none  does  more  honor  to  his  moral  character.  It 
is  difficult  to  extol  too  highly  the  candor  and  human- 
ity of  a  political  writer  whom  even  the  excitement  of 
civil  war  cannot  hurry  into  unseemly  violence.  Ox- 
ford, it  was  well  known,  was  then  the  stronghold  of 
Toryism.     The  High  Street  had  been  repeatedly  lined 

10  with  bayonets  in  order  to  keep  down  the  disaffected 
gownsmen;  and  traitors  pursued  by  the  messengers 
of  the  Government  had  been  concealed  in  the  garrets 
of  several  colleges.  Yet  the  admonition  which,  even 
under  such  circumstances,  Addison  addressed  to  the 
University,  is  singularly  gentle,  respectful,  and  even 
affectionate.  Indeed,  he  could  not  find  it  in  his  heart 
to  deal  harshly  even  with  imaginary  persons.  His 
foxhunter,  though  ignorant,  stupid,  and  violent,  is  at 
heart  a  good  fellow,  and  is  at  last  reclaimed  by  the 

20  clemency  of  the  King.  Steele  was  dissatisfied  with 
his.friend's  moderation,  and,  though  he  acknowledged 
that  the  Freeholder  was  excellently  written,  com- 
plained that  the  Ministry  played  on  a  lute  when  it 
was  necessary  to  blow  the  trumpet.  He  accordingly 
determined  to  execute  a  flourish  after  his  own  fashion, 


ADDISON  115 

and  tried  to  rouse  the  public  spirit  of  the  nation  by 
means  of  a  paper  called  the  Town  Talk,°  which  is  now 
as  utterly  forgotten  as  his  Englishman,  as  his  Crisis,  as 
his  Letter  to  the  Bailiff  of  Stockbridge,  as  his  Reader, 
in  short,  as  everything  that  he  wrote  without  the  help 
of  Addison. 

In  the  same  year  in  which  the  Drummer  was  acted, 
and  in  which  the  first  numbers  of  the  Freeholder  ap- 
peared, the  estrangement  of  Pope  and  Addison  be- 
came complete.  Addison  had  from  the  first  seen  that  lo 
Pope  was  false  and  malevolent.  Pope  had  discovered 
that  Addison  was  jealous.  The  discovery  was  made 
in  a  strange  manner.  Pope  had  written  the  Rape  of 
the  Lock,  in  two  cantos,  without  supernatural  ma- 
chinery. These  two  cantos  had  been  loudly  ap- 
plauded, and  by  none  more  loudly  than  by  Addison. 
Then  Pope  thought  of  the  Sylphs  and  Gnomes,  Ariel, 
Momentilla,  Crispissa,  and  Umbriel,  and  resolved 
to  interweave  the  Rosicrusian°  mythology  with  the 
original  fabric.  He  asked  Addison's  advice.  Addison  20 
said  that  the  poem  as-  it  stood  was  a  delicious  little 
thing,  and  entreated  Pope  not  to  run  the  risk  of 
marring  what  was  so  excellent  in  trying  to  mend  it. 
Pope  afterwards  declared  that  this  insidious  counsel 
first  opened  his  eyes  to  the  baseness  of  him  who  gave  it. 


116  ADDISON 

Now  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Pope's  plan  was 
most  ingenious,  and  that  he  afterwards  executed  it 
with  great  skill  and  success.  But  does  it  necessarily 
follow  that  Addison's  advice  was  bad  ?  And  if  Addi- 
son's advice  was  bad,  does  it  necessarily  follow  that  it 
was  given  from  bad  motives  ?  If  a  friend  were  to 
ask  us  whether  we  would  advise  him  to  risk  his  all  in 
a  lottery  of  which  the  chances  were  ten  to  one  against 
him,  we  should  do  our  best  to  dissuade  him  from  run- 

lo  ning  such  a  risk.  Even  if  he  were  so  lucky  as  to  get 
the  thirty  thousand  pound  prize,  we  should  not  admit 
that  we  had  counselled  him  ill ;  and  we  should  cer- 
tainly think  it  the  height  of  injustice  in  him  to  ac- 
cuse us  of  having  been  actuated  by  malice.  We 
think  Addison's  advice  good  advice.  It  rested  on  a 
sound  principle,  the  result  of  long  and  wide  experi- 
ence. The  general  rule  undoubtedly  is  that,  when  a 
successful  work  of  imagination  has  been  produced, 
it  should  not  be  recast.     We  cannot  at  this  moment 

20  call  to  mind  a  single  instance  in  which  this  rule  has 
been  transgressed  with  happy  effect,  except  the  in- 
stance of  the  Kape  of  the  Lock.  Tasso  recast  his 
Jerusalem.  Akenside°  recast  his  Pleasures  of  the 
Imagination  and  his  Epistle  to  Curio.  Pope  himself, 
emboldened  no  doubt  by  the  success  with  which  he 


ADDISON  111 

had  expanded  and  remodelled  the  Rape  of  the  Lock, 
made  the  same  experiment  on  the  Dunciad.  All 
these  attempts  failed.  Who  was  to  foresee  that  Pope 
would,  once  in  his  life,  be  able  to  do  what  he  could 
not  himself  do  twice,  and  what  nobody  else  has  ever 
done  ? 

Addison's  advice  was  good,  but  had  it  been  bad, 
why  should  we  pronounce  it  dishonest  ?  Scott  tells 
us  that  one  of  his  best  friends  predicted  the  failure  of 
AYaverley.  Herder  °  adjured  Goethe  °  not  to  take  so  lo 
unpromising  a  subject  as  Faust.  Hume  °  tried  to  dis- 
suade Robertson  from  writing  the  history  of  Charles 
the  Fifth,  ^ay.  Pope  himself  was  one  of  those  who 
prophesied  that  Cato  would  never  succeed  on  the 
-stage,  and  advised  Addison  to  print  it  without  risking 
a  representation.  But  Scott,  Goethe,  Robertson,  Ad- 
dison, had  the  good  sense  and  generosity  to  give  their 
advisers  credit  for  the  best  intentions.  Pope's  heart 
was  not  of  the  same  kind  with  theirs. 

In  1715,  while  he  was  engaged  in  translating  the  20 
Iliad,  he  met  Addison  at  a  coffee-house.  Phillips 
and  Budgell  were  there  ;  but  their  sovereign  got  rid  of 
them,  and  asked  Pope  to  dine  with  him  alone.  After 
dinner,  Addison  said  that  he  lay  under  a  difficulty 
which  he  wished  to  explain.      "  Tickell,"  he   said, 


118  ADDISON 

"translated  some  time  ago  the  first  book  of  the  Iliad. 
I  have  promised  to  look  it  over  and  correct  it.  I  can- 
not therefore  ask  to  see  yours;  for  that  would  be 
double  dealing."  Pope  made  a  civil  reply,  and 
begged  that  his  second  book  might  have  the  advantage 
of  Addison's  revision.  Addison  readily  agreed,  looked 
over  the  second  book,  and  sent  it  back  with  warm 
commendations. 

Tickell's  version  of  the  first  book  appeared  soon 

10  after  this  conversation.  In  the  preface,  all  rivalry  was 
earnestly  disclaimed.  Tickell  declared  that  he  should 
not  go  on  with  the  Iliad.  That  enterprise  he  should 
leave  to  powers  which  he  admitted  to  be  superior  to 
his  own.  His  only  view,  he  said,  in  publishing  this 
specimen  was  to  bespeak  the  favor  of  the  public  to  a 
translation  of  the  Odyssey,  in  which  he  had  made 
some  progress. 

Addison,   and  Addison's   devoted    followers,   pro- 
nounced both  the  versions  good,  but  maintained  that 

20  Tickell's  had  more  of  the  original.  The  town  gave  a 
decided  preference  to  Pope's.  We  do  not  think  it 
worth  while  to  settle  such  a  question  of  precedence. 
Neither  of  the  rivals  can  be  said  to  have  translated  the 
Iliad,  unless,  indeed,  the  word  translation  be  used  in 
the  sense  which  it  bears  in  the  Midsummer  Night's 


ADDISON  119 

Dream.  When  Bottom  makes  his  appearance  with  an 
ass's  head  instead  of  his  own,  Peter  Quince  exclaims, 
"  Bless  thee  !  Bottom,  bless  thee  f  thou  art  translated." 
In  this  sense,  undoubtedly,  the  readers  of  either  Pope 
or  Tickell  may  very  properly  exclaim,  ''  Bless  thee ! 
Homer;  thou  art  translated  indeed." 

Our  readers  will,  we  hope,  agree  with  us  in  thinking 
that  no  man  in  Addison's  situation  could  have  acted 
more  fairly  and  kindly,  both  towards  Pope,  and  towards 
Tickell,  than  he  appears  to  have  done.  But  an  odious  lo 
suspicion  had  sprung  up  in  the  mind  of  Pope.  He 
fancied,  and  he  soon  firmly  believed,  that  there  was  a 
deep  conspiracy  against  his  fame  and  his  fortunes.  The 
work  on  which  he  had  staked  his  reputation  was  to  be 
depreciated.  The  subscription,  on  which  rested  his 
hopes  of  a  competency,  was  to  be  defeated.  With  this 
view  Addison  had  made  a  rival  translation ;  Tickell  had 
consented  to  father  it ;  and  the  wits  of  Button's  had 
united  to  puff  it. 

Is  there  any  external  evidence  to  support  this  grave  20 
accusation  ?    The  answer  is  short.    There  is  absolutely 
none. 

Was  there  any  internal  evidence  which  proved  Addi- 
son to  be  the  author  of  this  version  ?  Was  it  a  work 
which  Tickell  was  incapable  of  producing  ?     Surely 


120  ADDISON 

not.  Tickell  was  a  Fellow  of  a  College  at  Oxford, 
and  must  be  supposed  to  have  been  able  to  construe 
the  Iliad  ;  and  he  was  a  better  versifier  than  his  friend. 
We  are  not  aware  that  Pope  pretended  to  have  dis- 
covered any  turns  of  expression  peculiar  to  Addison. 
Had  such  turns  of  expression  been  discovered,  they 
would  be  sufficiently  accounted  for  by  supposing 
Addison  to  have  corrected  his  friend's  lines,  as  he 
owned  that  he  had  done. 

lo  Is  there  anything  in  the  character  of  the  accused 
persons  which  makes  the  accusation  probable  ?  We 
answer  confidently  —  nothing.  Tickell  was  long  after 
this  time  described  by  Pope  himself  as  a  very  fair 
and  worthy  man.  Addison  had  been,  during  many 
years,  before  the  public.  Literary  rivals,  political 
opponents,  had  kept  their  eyes  on  him.  But  neither 
envy  nor  faction,  in  their  utmost  rage,  had  ever  im- 
puted to  him  a  single  deviation  from  the  laws  of  honor 
and  of  social  morality.     Had  he"  been  indeed  a  man 

20  meanly  jealous  of  fame,  and  capable  of  stooping  to 
base  and  wicked  arts  for  the  purpose  of  injuring  his 
competitors,  would  his  vices  have  remained  latent  so 
long?  He  was  a  writer  of  tragedy:  had  he  ever 
injured  Eowe  ?  He  was  a  writer  of  comedy  :  had  he 
not  done  ample  justice  to  Congreve,  and  given  valuable 


ADDISON  121 

help  to  Steele  ?  He  was  a  pamphleteer :  have  not  his 
good  nature  and  generosity  been  acknowledged  by 
Swift,  his  rival  in  fame  and  his  adversary  in  poli- 
tics ? 

That  Tickell  should  have  been  guilty  of  a  villany 
seems  to  us  highly  improbable.  That  Addison  should 
have  been  guilty  of  a  villany  seems  to  us  highly 
improbable.  Bat  that  these  two  men  should  have 
conspired  together  to  commit  a  villany  seems  to  us 
improbable  in  a  tenfold  degree.  All  that  is  known  lo 
to  us  of  their  intercourse  tends  to  prove,  that  it 
was  not  the  intercourse  of  two  accomplices  in  crime. 
These  are  some  of  the  lines  in  which  Tickell  poured 
forth  his  sorrow  over  the  coffin  of  Addison: 

"  Or  dost  thou  warn  poor  mortals  left  behind, 
A  task  -well  suited  to  thy  gentle  mind  ? 
Oh,  if  sometimes  thy  spotless  form  descend, 
To  me  thine  aid,  thou  guardian  genius,  lend. 
When  rage  misguides  me,  or  when  fear  alarms, 
When  pain  distresses,  or  when  pleasure  charms,  20 

In  silent  whisperings  purer  thoughts  impart. 
And  turn  from  ill  a  frail  and  feeble  heart ; 
Lead  through  the  paths  thy  virtue  trod  before, 
Till  bliss  shall  join,  nor  death  shall  part  us  more." 

In  what  words,  Ave   should  like  to  know,  did  this 
guardian  genius  invite  his  pupil  to  join  in  a  plan  such 


122  ADDISON 

as  the  Editor  of  the  Satirist  °  would  hardly  dare  to  pro- 
pose to  the  Editor  of  the  Age  °  ? 

We  do  not  accuse  Pope  of  bringing  an  accusation 
which  he  knew  to  be  false.  We  have  not  the  smallest 
doubt  that  he  believed  it  to  be  true ;  and  the  evidence 
on  which  he  believed  it  he  found  in  his  own  bad  heart. 
His  own  life  was  one  long  series  of  tricks,  as  mean 
and  as  malicious  as  that  of  which  he  suspected  Addi- 
son and  Tickell.     He  was  all  stiletto  and  mask.     To 

10  injure,  to  insult,  and  to  save  himself  from  the  conse- 
quences of  injury  and  insult  by  lying  and  equivocating, 
was  the  habit  of  his  life.  He  published  a  lampoon  on 
the  Duke  of  Chandos  ° ;  he  was  taxed  with  it ;  and  he 
lied  and  equivocated.  He  published  a  lampoon  on 
Aaron  Hill  ° ;  he  was  taxed  with  it ;  and  he  lied  and 
equivocated.  He  published  a  still  fouler  lampoon  on 
Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montague  ° ;  he  was  taxed  with  it ; 
and  he  lied  with  more  than  usual  effrontery  and  vehe- 
mence.    He  puffed  himself   and  abused  his  enemies 

20  under  feigned  names.  He  robbed  himself  of  his  own 
letters,  and  then  raised  the  hue  and  cry  after  him. 
Besides  his  frauds  of  malignity,  of  fear,  of  interest, 
and  of  vanity,  there  were  frauds  which  he  seems  to 
have  committed  from  love  of  fraud  alone.  He  had  a 
habit  of  stratagem,  a  pleasure  in  outwitting  all  who 


ADDISON  123 

came  near  him.  Whatever  his  object  might  be,  the 
indirect  road  to  it  was  that  which  he  preferred.  For 
Bolingbroke,  Pope  undoubtedly  felt  as  much  love  and 
veneration  as  it  was  in  his  nature  to  feel  for  any 
human  being.  Yet  Pope  was  scarcely  dead  when  it 
was  discovered  that,  from  no  motive  except  the  mere 
love  of  artifice,  he  had  been  guilty  of  an  act  of  gross 
l^erfidy  to  Bolingbroke.° 

Xothing  was  more  natural  than  that  such  a  man  as 
this  should  attribute  to  others  that  which  he  felt  lo 
within  himself.  A  plain,  probable,  coherent  explana- 
tion is  frankly  given  to  him.  He  is  certain  that  it  is 
all  a  romance.  A  line  of  conduct  scrupulously  fair, 
and  even  friendly,  is  pursued  towards  him.  He  is 
convinced  that  it  is  merely  a  cover  for  a  vile  in- 
trigue by  which  he  is  to  be  disgraced  and  ruined.  It 
is  vain  to  ask  him  for  proofs.  He  has  none,  and 
wants  none,  except  those  which  he  carries  in  his  own 
bosom. 

Whether  Pope's  malignity  at  length  provoked  Addi-  20 
son  to  retaliate  for  the  first  and  last  time,  cannot  now 
be  known  with  certainty.  We  have  only  Pope's  story, 
which  runs  thus.  A  pamphlet  appeared  containing 
some  reflections  which  stung  Pope  to  the  quick.  What 
those  reflections  were,  and  whether  they  were  reflec- 


124  ADDISON 

tions  of  which  he  had  a  right  to  complain,  we  have 
now  no  means  of  deciding.  The  Earl  of  Warwick,^  a 
foolish  and  vicious  lad,  who  regarded  Addison  with 
the  feeling  with  which  such  lads  generally  regard 
their  best  friends,  told  Pope,  truly  or  falsely,  that 
this  pamphlet  had  been  written  by  Addison's  direc- 
tion. AVhen  we  consider  what  a  tendency  stories 
have  to  grow,  in  passing  even  from  one  honest  man 
to  another   honest   man,  and  when  we  consider  that 

10  to  the  name  of  honest  man  neither  Pope  nor  the  Earl 
of  Warwick  had  a  claim,  we  are  not  disposed  to  attach 
much  importance  to  this  anecdote. 

It  is  certain,  however,  that  Pope  was  furious.  He 
had  already  sketched  the  character  of  Atticus  in  prose. 
In  his  anger  he  turned  his  prose  into  the  brilliant  and 
energetic  lines  which  everybody  knows  by  heart,  or 
ought  to  know  by  heart,  and  sent  them  to  Addison. 
One  charge  which  Pope  has  enforced  with  great  skill 
is  probably  not  without  foundation.     Addison  was,  we 

20  are  inclined  to  believe,  too  fond  of  presiding  over  a 
circle  of  humble  friends.  Of  the  other  imputations 
which  these  famous  lines  are  intended  to  convey, 
scarcely  one  has  ever  been  proved  to  be  just,  and 
some  are  certainly  false.  That  Addison  was  not  in 
the   habit   of  "  damning  with   faint   praise "  appears 


ADDISON  125 

from  innumerable  passages  in  his  writings,  and  from 
none  more  than  from  those  in  which  he  mentions 
Pope.  "And  it  is  not  merely  unjust,  but  ridiculous, 
to  describe  a  man  who  made  the  fortune  of  almost 
every  one  of  his  intimate  friends,  as  '•  so  obliging  that 
he  ne'er  obliged." 

That  Addison  felt  the  sting  of  Pope's  satire  keenly 
we  cannot  doubt.  That  he  was  conscious  of  one  of 
the  weaknesses  with  which  he  was  reproached  is 
highly  probable.  But  his  heart,  we  firmly  believe,  lo 
acquitted  him  of  the  gravest  part  of  the  accusation. 
He  acted  like  himself.  As  a  satirist  he  was,  at  his 
own  weapons,  more  than  Pope's  match;  and  he  would 
have  been  at  no  loss  for  topics.  A  distorted  and 
diseased  body,  tenanted  by  a  yet  more  distorted  and 
diseased  mind;  spite  and  envy  thinly  disguised  by 
sentiments  as  benevolent  and  noble  as  those  which 
Sir  Peter  Teazle  °  admired  in  Mr.  Joseph  Surface  °;  a 
feeble  sickly  licentiousness;  an  odious  love  of  filthy 
and  noisome  images;  these  were  things  which  a  genius  20 
less  powerful  than  that  to  which  we  owe  the  Spectator 
could  easily  have  held  up  to  the  mirth  and  hatred  of 
mankind.  Addison  had,  moreover,  at  his  command, 
other  means  of  vengeance  which  a  bad  man  would 
not   have  scrupled  to  use.     He  was  powerful  in  the 


126  ADDISON 

State.  Pope  was  a  Catholic;  and,  in  those  times,  a 
minister  would  have  found  it  easy  to  harass  the  most 
innocent  Catholic  by  innumerable  petty  vexations. 
Pope,  near  twenty  years  later,  said  that  "through 
the  lenity  of  the  government  alone  he  could  live  with 
comfort."  "  Consider,"  he  exclaimed,  "  the  injury  that 
a  man  of  high  rank  and  credit  may  do  to  a  private 
person,  under  penal  laws  and  many  other  disadvan- 
tages."    It  is  pleasing  to  reflect  that  the  only  revenge 

10  which  Addison  took  was  to  insert  in  the  Freeholder  a 
warm  encomium  on  the  translation  of  the  Iliad,  and 
to  exhort  all  lovers  of  learning  to  put  down  their 
names  as  subscribers.  There  could  be  no  doubt,  he 
said,  from  the  specimens  already  published,  that  the 
masterly  hand  of  Pope  would  do  as  much  for  Homer 
as  Dryden  had  done  for  Virgil.  From  that  time  to 
the  end  of  his  life,  he  always  treated  Pope,  by  Pope's 
own  acknowledgment,  with  justice.  Friendship  was, 
of  course,  at  an  end. 

20  One  reason  whicli^induced  the  Earl  of  Warwick  to 
play  the  ignominious  part  of  talebearer  on  this  occa- 
sion, may  have  been  his  dislike  of  the  marriage  which 
was  about  to  take  place  between  his  mother  and  Addi- 
son. The  Countess  Dowager,°  a  daughter  of  the  old 
and  honorable  family  of  the  Middletons  of  Chirk,  a 


ADDISON  127 

family  which,  in  any  country  but  ours,  would  be  called 
noble,  resided  at  Holland  House.°  Addison  had,  dur- 
ing some  years,  occupied  at  Chelsea,  a  small  dwelling, 
once  the  abode  of  Nell  Gwynn.°  Chelsea  is  now  a 
district  of  London,  and  Holland  House  may  be  called 
a  town  residence.  But,  in  the  days  of  Anne  and 
George  the  First,  milkmaids  and  sportsmen  wandered 
between  green  hedges,  and  over  fields  bright  with 
daisies,  from  Kensington  almost  to  the  shore  of  the 
Thames.  Addison  and  Lady  Warwick  were  country  ic 
neighbors,  and  became  intimate  friends.  The  great 
wit  and  scholar  tried  to  allure  the  young  Lord  from 
the  fashionable  amusements  of  beating  watchmen, 
breaking  windows,  and  rolling  women  in  hogsheads 
down  Holborn  Hill,  to  the  study  of  letters  and  the 
practice  of  virtue.  These  well  meant  exertions  did 
little  good,  however,  either  to  the  disciple  or  to  the 
master.  Lord  Warwick  grew  up  a  rake  ;  and  Addison 
fell  in  love.  The  mature  beauty  of  the  Countess  has 
been  celebrated  by  poets  in  language  which,  after  a  20 
very  large  allowance  has  been  made  for  flattery,  would 
lead  us  to  believe  that  she  was  a  fine  woman;  and  her 
rank  doubtless  heightened  her  attractions.  The  court- 
ship was  long.  The  hopes  of  the  lover  appear  to 
have  risen  and  fallen  with  the  fortunes  of  his  party. 


128  ADDISON 

His  attachment  was  at  length  a  matter  of  such  notori- 
ety that,  when  he  visited  IreUincl  for  the  last  time, 
Eowe  addressed  some  consolatory  v.erses  to  the  Chloe 
of  Holland  House.  It  strikes  iis  as  a  little  strange 
that,  in  these  verses,  Addison  should  be  called  Lyci- 
das,°  a  name  of  singularly  evil  omen  for  a  swain  just 
about  to  cross  St.  George's  Channel. 

At  length  Chloe  capitulated.     Addison  was  indeed 
able  to  treat  with  her  on  equal  terms.     He  had  reason 

10  to  expect  preferment  even  higher  than  that  which  he 
had  attained.  He  had  inherited  the  fortune  of  a 
brother  who  died  Governor  of  Madras.  He  had  pur- 
chased an  estate  in  Warwickshire,  and  had  been  wel- 
comed to  his  domain  in  very  tolerable  verse  by  one  of 
the  neighboring  squires,  the  poetical  foxhunter,  Will- 
iam .Somerville.°  In  August,  1716,  the  newspapers 
announced  that  Joseph  Addison,  Esquire,  famous  for 
many  excellent  works  both  in  verse  and  prose,  had 
espoused  the  Countess  Dowager  of  Warwick. 

2o  He  now  fixed  his  abode  at  Holland  House,  a  house 
which  can  boast  of  a  greater  number  of  inmates  dis- 
tinguished in  political  and  literary  history  than  any 
other  private  dwelling  in  England.  His  portrait  still 
hangs  there.  The  features  are  pleasing ;  the  complex- 
ion  is   remarkably   fair ;   but,  in  the  expression  we 


ADDISON  129 

trace  rather  the  gentleness  of  his  disposition  than  the 
force  and  keenness  of  his  intellect. 

ISTot  long  after  his  marriage  he  reached  the  height 
of  civil  greatness.  The  Whig  Government  had,  during 
some  time,  being  torn  by  internal  dissensions.  Lord 
Townshend  led  one  section  of  the  Cabinet,  Lord  Sun- 
derland the  other.  At  length,  in  the  spring  of  1717, 
Sunderland  triumphed.  Townshend  retired  from  of- 
fice, and  was  accompanied  by  Walpole  and  Cowper. 
Sunderland  proceeded  to  reconstruct  the  Ministry ;  lo 
and  Addison  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State.  It  is 
certain  that  the  Seals  were  pressed  upon  him,  and' 
were  at  first  declined  by  him.  Men  equally  versed 
in  official  business  might  easily  have  been  found ;  and 
his  colleagues  knew  that  they  could  not  expect  assist- 
ance from  him  in  debate.  He  owed  his  elevation  to 
his  popularity,  to  his  stainless  probity,  and  to  his  lit- 
erary fame. 

But  scarcely  had  Addison  entered  the  Cabinet  when 
his  health  began  to  fail.  From  one  serious  attack  he  20 
recovered  in  the  autumn ;  and  his  recovery  was  cele- 
brated in  Latin  verses,  worthy  of  his  own  pen,  by 
Vincent  Bourne,  who  was  then  at  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge.  A  relapse  soon  took  place;  and,  in  the 
following  spring,  Addison  was  prevented  by  a  severe 


130  ADDISON 

asthma  from  discharging  the  duties  of  his  post.  He 
resigned  it,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  friend  Craggs, 
a  young  man  whose  natural  parts,  though  little  im- 
proved by  cultivation,  were  quick  and  showy,  whose 
graceful  person  and  winning  manners  had  made  him 
generally  acceptable  in  society,  and  who,  if  he  had 
lived,  would  probably  have  been  the  most  formidable 
of  all  the  rivals  of  Walpole. 

As  yet  there  was  no  Joseph  Hume.°     The  Minis- 

10  ters,  therefore,  were  able  to  bestow  on  Addison  a  retir- 
ing pension  of  fifteen  hundred  pounds  a  year.  In 
what  form  this  pension  was  given  we  are  not  told  by 
the  biographers,  and  have  not  time  to  inquire.  But  it 
is  certain  that  Addison  did  not  vacate  his  seat  in  the 
House  of  Commons. 

Rest  of  mind  and  body  seems  to  have  re-established 
his  health ;  and  he  thanked  God,  with  cheerful  piety, 
for  having  set  him  free  both  from  his  office  and  from 
his  asthma.     Many  years  seemed  to  be  before  him, 

20  and  he  meditated  many  works,  a  tragedy  on  the  death 
of  Socrates,  a  translation  of  the  Psalms,  a  treatise  on 
the  evidences  of  Christianity.  Of  this  last  perform- 
ance, a  part,  which  we  could  well  spare,  has  come 
down  to  us. 

But  the  fatal  complaint  soon  returned,  and  gradu- 


ADDISON  13:1 

ally  prevailed  against  all  the  resources  of  medicine. 
It  is  melancholy  to  think  that  the  last  months  of  such 
a  life  should  have  been  overclouded  both  by  domestic 
and  by  political  vexations.  A  tradition  which  began 
early,  which  has  been  generally  received,  and  to  which 
we  have  nothing  to  oppose,  has  represented  his  wife 
as  an  arrogant  and  imperious  woman.  It  is  said  that, 
till  his  health  failed  him,  he  was  glad  to  escape  from 
the  Countess  Dowager  and  her  magnificent  dining- 
room,  blazing  with  the  gilded  devices  of  the  House  lo 
of  Kich,°  to  some  tavern  where  he  could  enjoy  a  laugh, 
a  talk  about  Virgil  and  Boileau,  and  a  bottle  of.  claret, 
with  the  friends  of  his  happier  days.  All  those  friends, 
however,  were  not  left  to  him.  Sir  Eichard  Steele 
had  been  gradually  estranged  by  various  causes.  He 
considered  himself  as  one  who,  in  evil  times,  had 
braved  martyrdom  for  his  political  principles,  and 
demanded,  when  the  Whig  party  was  triumphant,  a 
large  compensation  for  what  he  had  suffered  when  it 
was  militant.  The  Whig  leaders  took  a  very  different  20 
view  of  his  claims.  They  thought  that  he  had,  by  his 
own  petulance  and  folly,  brought  them  as  well  as  him- 
self into  trouble,  and  though  they  did  not  absolutely 
neglect  him,  doled  out  favors  to  him  with  a  sparing 
hand.     It  was  natural  that  he  should  be  angry  with 


132  ADDISON 

them,  and  especially  angry  with  Addison.  But  what 
above  all  seems  to  have  disturbed  Sir  Eichard,  was 
the  elevation  of  Tickell,  who,  at  thirty,  was  made  by 
Addison,  Under  Secretary  of  State ;  while  the  Editor 
of  the  Tatler  and  Spectator,  the  author  of  the  Crisis, 
the  member  for  Stockbridge  who  had  been  persecuted 
for  firm  adherence  to  the  House  of  Hanover,  was,  at 
near  fifty,  forced,  after  many  solicitations  and  com- 
plaints, to  content  himself  with  a  share  in  the  patent 

10  of  Drury  Lane  theatre.  Steele  himself  says,  in  his 
celebrated  letter  to  Congreve,  that  Addison,  by  his 
preference  of  Tickell,  "  incurred  the  warmest  resent- 
ment of  other  gentlemen ; "  and  everything  seems  to 
indicate  that,  of  those  resentful  gentlemen,  Steele  was 
himself  one. 

While  poor  Sir  Richard  was  brooding  over  what  he 
considered  as  Addison's  unkindness,  a  new  cause  ot 
quarrel  arose.  The  Whig  party,  already  divided 
against  itself,  was  rent  by  a  new  schism.     The  cele- 

20  brated  Bill  for  limiting  the  number  of  Peers  had  been 
brought  in.  The  proud  Duke  of  Somerset,  first  in 
rank  of  all  the  nobles  whose  origin  permitted  them  to 
sit  in  Parliament,  was  the  ostensil)le  author  of  the 
measure.  But  it  was  supported,  and,  in  truth,  devised 
by  the  Prime  Minister. 


ADDISON  133 

We  are  satisfied  that  the  Bill  was  most  pernicious ; 
and  we  fear  that  the  motives  which  induced  Sunder- 
land to  frame  it  were  not  honorable  to  him.  But  we 
cannot  deny  that  it  was  supported  by  many  of  the 
best  and  wisest  men  of  that  age.  Kor  was  this  strange. 
The  royal  prerogative  had,  within  the  memory  of  the  gen- 
eration then  in  the  vigor  of  life,  been  so  grossly  abused, 
that  it  was  still  regarded  with  a  jealousy  which,  when 
the  peculiar  situation  of  the  House  of  Brunswick  is 
considered,  may  perhaps  be  called  immoderate.  The  lo 
particular  prerogative  of  creating  peers  had,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Whigs,  been  grossly  abused  by  Queen 
Anne's  last  Ministry;  and  even  the  Tories  admitted 
that  her  Majesty,  in  swamping,  as  it  has  since  been 
called,  the  Upper  House,  had  done  what  only  an  ex- 
treme case  could  justify.  The  theory  of  the  English 
constitution,  according  to  many  high  authorities,  was 
that  three  independent  powers,  the  sovereign,  the 
nobility,  and  the  commons,  ought  constantly  to  act  as 
checks  on  each  other.  If  this  theory  were  sound,  it  20 
seemed  to  follow  that  to  put  one  of  these  powers 
under  the  absolute  control  of  the  other  two,  was 
absurd.  But  if  the  number  of  peers  were  unlimited, 
it  could  not  well  be  denied  that  the  Upper  House  was 
under  the  absolute  control  of  the  Crown  and  the  Com- 


134  ADDISON 

mons,  and  was  indebted  only  to  their  moderation  for 
any  power  which  it  might  be  suffered  to  retain. 

Stede  took  part  with  the  Opposition,  Addison  with 
the  Ministers.  Steele,  in  a  paper  called  the  Plebeian,^ 
vehemently  attacked  the  bill.  Sunderland  called  for 
help  on  Addison,  and  Addison  obeyed  the  call.  In  a 
paper  called  the  Old  Whig,°he  answered,  and  indeed 
refuted  Steele's  arguments.  It  seems  to  us  that  the 
premises  of  both  the  controversialists  were  unsound, 

lothat,  on  those  premises,  Addison  reasoned  well  and 
Steele  ill,  and  that  consequently  Addison  brought  out 
a  false  conclusion  while  Steele  blundered  upon  the 
truth.  In  style,  in  wit,  and  in  politeness,  Addison 
maintained  his  superiority,  though  the  Old  Whig  is  by 
no  means  one  of  his  happiest  performances. 

At  first,  both  the  anonymous  opponents  observed 
the  laws  of  propriety.  But  at  length  Steele  so  far  for- 
got himself  as  to  throw  an  odious  imputation  on  the 
morals  of  the  chiefs  of  the  administration.     Addison 

20  replied  with  severity,  but,  in  our  opinion,  with  less 
severity  than  was  due  to  so  grave  an  offence  against 
morality  and  decorum;  nor  did  he,  in  hi3  just  anger, 
forget  for  a  moment  the  laws  of  good  taste  and  good 
breeding.  One  calumny  w^iich  has  been  often  re- 
peated, and  never  yet  contradicted,  it  is  our  duty  to 


ADDISON  135 

expose.  It  is  asserted  in  the  Biographia  Britannica, 
that  Addison  designated  Steele  as  "little  Dicky." ° 
This  assertion  was  repeated  by  Johnson,  who  had 
never  seen  the  Old  Whig,  and  was  therefore  excusable. 
It  has  also  been  repeated  by  Miss  xVikin,  who  has 
seen  the  Old  Whig,  and  for  whom  therefore  there  is 
less  excuse.  Xow,  it  is  true  that  the  words  "little 
Dicky  "  occur  in  the  Old  Whig,  and  that  Steele's  name 
was  Richard.  It  is  equally  true  that  the  words  "  little 
Isaac  "  occur  in  the  Duenna,°  and  that  jSTewton's  name  lo 
was  Isaac.  But  we  confidently  affirm  that  Addison's 
little  Dicky  had  no  more  to  do  with  Steele,  than 
Sheridan's  little  Isaac  with  iN'ewton.  If  we  apply  the 
words  "little  Dicky"  to  Steele,  we  deprive  a  very 
lively  and  ingenious  passage,  not  only  of  all  its  wit, 
but  of  all  its  meaning.  Little  Dicky  was  the  nickname 
of  Henry  Xorris,  an  actor  of  remarkably  small  stature, 
but  of  great  humor,  who  played  the  usurer  Gomez, 
then  a  most  popular  part  in  Dryden's  Spanish  Friar.^ 

1  We  will  transcribe  the  "whole  paragraph.  How  it  can  ever  have 
been  misunderstood  is  unintelligible  to  us. 

"  But  our  author's  chief  concern  is  for  the  poor  House  of  Com- 
mons whom  he  represents  as  naked  and  defenceless,  when  the 
Crown,  by  losing  this  prerogative,  would  be  less  able  to  protect 
them  against  the  power  of  a  House  of  Lords.  Who  forbears  laugh- 
ing when  the  Spanish  Friar  represents  little  Dicky,  under  the 


136  ADDISON 

The  merited  reproof  which  Steele  had  received, 
though  softened  by  some  kind  and  courteous  expres- 
sions, galled  him  bitterly.  He  replied  with  little 
force  and  great  acrimony;  but  no  rejoinder  appeared. 
Addison  was  fast  hastening  to  his  grave ;  and  had,  we 
may  well  suppose,  little  disposition  to  prosecute  a 
quarrel  with  an  old  friend.  His  complaint  had  ter- 
minated in  dropsy.  He  bore  up  long  and  manfully. 
But  at  length  he  abandoned  all  hope,  dismissed  his 
10  physicians,  and  calmly  prepared  himself  to  die. 

His  works  he  intrusted  to  the  care  of  Tickell,  and 
dedicated  them  a  very  few  days  before  his  death  to 
Craggs,  in  a  letter  written  with  the  sweet  and  grace- 
ful eloquence  of  a  Saturday's  Spectator.  In  this,  his 
last  composition,  he  alluded  to  his  approaching  end  in 
words  so  manly,  so  cheerful,  and  so  tender,  that  it  is 


person  of  Gomez,  insulting  the  Colonel  who  was  able  to  fright  him 
out  of  his  wits  with  a  single  frown  ?  This  Gomez,  says  he,  flew 
upon  hira  like  a  dragon,  got  hira  down,  the  Devil  being  strong  in 
him,  and  gave  him  bastinado  on  bastinado,  and  buffet  on  buffet, 
which  the  poor  Colonel,  being  prostrate,  suffered  with  a  most  Chris- 
tian patience.  The  improbability  of  the  fact  never  fails  to  raise 
mirth  in  the  audience  ;  and  one  may  ventui'e  to  answer  for  a  British 
House  of  Commons,  if  we  may  guess,  from  its  conduct  hitherto, 
that  it  will  scarce  be  either  so  tame  or  so  weak  as  our  author 
supposes." 


ADDISON  137 

dilfxCult  to  read  them  without  tears.  At  the  same 
time  he  earnestly  recommended  the  interests  of  Tick- 
ell  to  the  care  of  Craggs. 

Within  a  few  hours  of  the  time  at  which  this  dedi- 
cation was  written,  Addison  sent  to  beg  Gay,°  who  was 
then  living  by  his  wits  about  town,  to  come  to  Holland 
House.  G-ay  went,  and  was  received  with  great  kind- 
ness. To  his  amazement  his  forgiveness  was  implored 
by  the  dying  man.  Poor  Gay,  the  most  good-natured 
and  simple  of  mankind,  could  not  imagine  what  he  lo 
had  to  forgive.  There  vras,  however,  some  wrong,  the 
remembrance  of  which  weighed  on  Addison's  mind, 
and  which  he  declared  himself  anxious  to  repair.  He 
was  in  a  state  of  extreme  exhaustion ;  and  the  parting 
was  doubtless  a  friendly  one  on  both  sides.  Gay  sup- 
posed that  some  plan  to  serve  him  had  been  in  agita- 
tion at  Court,  and  had  been  frustrated  by  Addison's 
influence.  Nor  is  this  improbable.  Gay  had  paid 
assiduous  court  to  the  royal  family.  But  in  the 
Queen's  days  he  had  been  the  eulogist  of  Bolingbroke,  20 
and  was  still  connected  with  many  Tories.  It  is  not 
strange  that  Addison,  while  heated  by  conflict,  should 
have  thought  himself  justified  in  obstructing  the  pre- 
ferment of  one  whom  he  might  regard  as  a  political 
enemy.     Neither  is  it  strange  that,  when    reviewing 


138  ADDISON 

his  whole  life,  and  earnestly  scrutinizing  all  his  mo- 
tives, he  should  think  that  he  had  acted  an  unkind 
and  ungenerous  part,  in  using  his  power  against  a  dis- 
tressed man  of  letters,  who  was  as  harmless  and  as 
helpless  as  a  child. 

One  inference  may  be  drawn  from  this  anecdote. 
It  appears  that  Addison,  on  his  death-bed,  called  him- 
self to  a  strict  account,  and  was  not  at  ease  till  he  had 
asked  pardon  for  an  injury  which  it  was  not  even  sus- 

lopected  that  he  had  committed,  for  an  injury  which 
would  have  caused  disquiet  only  to  a  very  tender  con- 
science. Is  it  not  then  reasonable  to  infer  that,  if  he 
had  really  been  guilty  of  forming  a  base  conspiracy 
against  the  fame  and  fortunes. of  a  rival,  he  would 
have  expressed  some  remorse  for  so  serious  a  crime  ? 
But  it  is  unnecessary  to  multiply  arguments  and  evi- 
dence for  the  defence,  when  there  is  neither  argument 
nor  evidence  for  the  accusation. 

The  last  moments  of  Addison  were  perfectly  serene. 

20  His  interview  with  his  son-in-law  is  universally  known. 
"  See,"  he  said,  "  how  a  Christian  can  die."  The  piety 
of  Addison  was,  in  truth,  of  a  singularly  cheerful  char- 
acter. The  feeling  which  predominates  in  all  his  de- 
votional writings  is  gratitude.  God  was  to  him  the 
all-wise  and  all-powerful  friend  who  had  watched  over 


ADDISON  139 

his  cradle  with  more  than  maternal  tenderness ;  who 
had  listened  to  his  cries  before  they  could  form  them- 
selves into  prayer ;  who  had  preserved  his  youth  from 
the  snares  of  vice ;  who  had  made  his  cup  run  over 
with  worldly  blessings;  who  had  doubled  the  value 
of  those  blessings,  by  bestowing  a  thankful  heart  to 
enjoy  them,  and  dear  friends  to  partake  them ;  who 
had  rebuked  the  waves  of  the  Ligurian  gidf,  had  puri- 
fied the  autumnal  air  of  the  Campagna,  and  had  re- 
strained the  avalanches  of  Mont  Cenis.  Of  the  Psalms,  lo 
his  favorite  was  that  which  represents  the  Ruler  of 
all  things  under  the  endearing  image  of  a  shepherd, 
whose  crook  guides  the  flock  safe,  through  gloomy 
and  desolate  glens,  to  meadows  well  watered  and  rich 
with  herbage.  On  that  goodness  to  which  he  ascribed 
all  the  happiness  of  his  life,  he  relied  in  the  hour  of 
death  with  a  love  which  casteth  out  fear.  He  died  on 
the  seventeenth  of  June,  1719.  He  had  just  entered 
on  his  forty-eighth  year. 

His  body  lay  in  state  in  the  Jerusalem  Chamber,"  20 
and  was  borne  thence  to  the  Abbey  °  at  dead  of  night. 
The  choir  sang  a  funeral  hymn.  Bishop  Atterbury, 
one  of  those  Tories  who  had  loved  and  honored  the 
most  accomplished  of  the  AVhigs,  met  the  corpse,  and 
led  the  procession  by  torchlight,  round  the  shrine  of 


140  ADDISON 

Saint  Edward,  and  the  graves  of  the  Plantagenets,  to 
the  Chapel  of  Henry  the  Seventh.  On  the  north  side 
of  tliat  Chax^el,  in  the  vault  of  the  House  of  Albemarle, 
the  coffin  of  Addison  lies  next  to  the  coffin  of  Mon- 
tague. Yet  a  few  months  ;  and  the  same  mourners 
passed  again  along  the  same  aisle.  The  same  sad 
anthem  was  again  chanted.  The  same  vault  was 
again  opened;  and  the  coffin  of  Craggs  was  placed 
close  to  the  coffin  of  Addison. 

10  Many  tributes  were  paid  to  the  memory  of  Addison ; 
but  one- alone  is  now  remembered.  Tick  ell  bewailed 
his  friend  in  an  elegy  which  would  do  honor  to  the 
greatest  name  in  our  literature,  and  which  unites  the 
energy  and  magnificence  of  Dryden  to  the  tenderness 
and  purity  of  Cowper.  This  fine  poem  was  prefixed 
to  a  superb  edition  of  Addison's  works,  which  was 
published,  in  1721,  by  subscription.  The  names  of 
the  subscribers  proved  how  widely  his  fame  had  been 
spread.      That  his   countrymen  should   be   eager   to 

2o  possess  his  writings,  even  in  a  costly  form,  is  not 
wonderful.  But  it  is  wonderful  that,  though  English 
literature  was  then  little  studied  on  the  Continent, 
Spanish  Grandees,  Italian  Prelates,  Marshals  of  France, 
should  be  found  in  the  list.  Among  the  most  remark- 
able names  are  those  of  the  Queen  of  Sweden,  of  Prince 


ADDISON  141 

Eugene,  of  tlie  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  of  the  Dukes 
of  Parma,  ]\Iodena,  and  Guastalla,  of  the  Doge  of 
Genoa,  of  the  Eegent  Orleans,  and  of  Cardinal  Dubois. 
We  ought  to  add  that  this  edition,  though  eminently 
beautiful,  is  in  some  important  points  defective ;  nor, 
indeed,  do  we  yet  possess  a  complete  collection  of 
Addison's  writings. 

It  is  strange  that  neither  his  opulent  and  noble 
widow,  nor  any  of  his  powerful  and  attached  friends, 
should  have  thought  of  placing  even  a  simple  tablet,  lo 
inscribed  with  his  name,  on  the  walls  of  the  Abbey. 
It  was  not  till  three  generations  had  laughed  and 
wept  over  his  pages,  that  the  omission  was  supplied 
by  the  public  veneration.  At  length,  in  our  own  time, 
his  image,  skilfully  graven,  appeared  in  Poets'  Corner. 
It  represents  him,  as  we  can  conceive  him,  clad  in  his 
dressing  gown,  and  freed'from  his  wig,  stepping  from' 
his  parlor  at  Chelsea  into  his  trim  little  garden,  wdth 
the  account  of  the  Everlasting  Club,  or  the  Loves  of 
Hilpa  and  Shalum,  just  finished  for  the  next  day's  20 
Spectator,  in  his  hand.  Such  a  mark  of  national  re- 
spect was  due  to  the  unsullied  statesman,  to  the  accom- 
plished scholar,  to  the  master  of  pure  English  elo- 
quence, to  the  consummate  painter  of  life  and  manners. 
It  was  due,  above  all,  to  the  great  satirist,  who  alone 


142  ADDISON 

knew  how  to  use  ridicule  without  abusing  it,  who, 
without  inflicting  a  wound,  effected  a  great  social  re- 
form, and  who  reconciled  wit  and  virtue,  after  a  long 
and  disastrous  separation,  during  which  wit  had  been 
led  astray  by  profligacy,  and  virtue  by  fanaticism. 


NOTES 


This  essay  was  published  in  the  Edinburgh  Seview,  July, 
1843.     On  June  15  ]\Iacaulay  wrote  to  the  editor  as  follows : 

"  I  mistrust  my  own  judgment  of  what  I  write  so  much  that 
I  shall  not  be  at  all  surprised  if  both  you  and  the  public  think 
my  paper  on  Addison  a  failure  ;  but  I  own  that  I  am  partial  to 
it.  It  is  now  more  than  half  finished.  I  have  some  researches 
to  make  before  I  proceed  ;  but  I  have  all  the  rest  in  my  head, 
and  shall  write  very  rapidly.  I  fear  that  I  cannot  contract  my 
matter  into  less  than  seventy  pages.  You  will  not,  I  think,  be 
inclined  to  stint  me. 

''  I  am  truly  vexed  to  find  Miss  Aikin's  book  so  veiy  bad  that 
it  is  impossible  for  us,  with  due  regard  to  our  own  character,  to 
praise  it.  All  that  I  can  do  is  to  speak  civilly  of  her  writings 
generally,  and  to  express  regret  that  she  should  have  been 
nodding.  I  have  found,  I  will  venture  to  say,  not  less  than 
forty  gross  blunders  as  to  matters  of  fact  in  the  first  volume. 
Of  these  I  may,  perhaps,  point  out  eight  or  ten  as  courteously 
as  the  case  may  bear  ;  yet  it  goes  much  against  my  feelings  to 
censure  any  woman,  even  with  the  greatest  lenity." 

As  far  as  can  be  judged  from  the  sale  of  the  separate  essays, 
the  article  on  Addison  ranks  fourth  in  popularity,  being  excelled 
only  by  the  essays  on  Clive,  Hastings,  and  Chatham,  in  the 
order  named. 

143    • 


lU  NOTES 

Page  1,  line  2.  franchises  is  used  in  the  sense  of  privileges 
or  immunities. 

Page  2,  line  1.  Knight,  Bradamante.  For  the  passage  re- 
ferred to,  see  Ariosto's  Orlando  Fiirioso,  XLV. 

1.  3.     Balisarda  was  Rogero's  enchanted  sword. 

1.  18.  the  Laputan  flapper.  Gulliver'' s  Travels,  Laputa, 
Ckapter  II.  In  the  country  of  Laputa  the  inhabitants  are  so 
absent-minded  that  they  have  to  be  constantly  flapped  on  the 
head  with  a  bladder  in  order  to  keep  their  attention  aroused. 

Page  3,  line  5.  Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  (1552-1618),  the  great 
statesman,  explorer,  and  author,  whose  talents  added  so  much 
to  the  glory  of  Elizabeth's  reign. 

1.  6.  Congreve,  William,  (1670-1729),  an  Enghsh  dramatic 
poet,  who  achieved  both  fame  and  fortune  by  his  productions. 

1.  6.  Prior,  Matthew,  (1664-1721),  was  an  English  poet  and 
diplomatist. 

1.  8.  Theobald's,  the  country  seat  of  Cecil,  Elizabeth's  noted 
minister.  It  eventually  came  into  possession  of  James  I.,  "who 
made  great  gardens  and  stocked  them  with  all  kinds  of  trees 
and  fruits,  so  that  every  great  stranger  in  England  must  needs 
go  to  see  the  curious  knots  and  mazes  of  flowers,  and  the 
vineries  and  shrubbery. ' ' 

1.  8.  Steenkirks.  Lace  neckcloths,  very  carefully  adjusted, 
were  worn  commonly  by  men  of  fashion.  At  the  battle  of 
Steenkirk,  in  Holland,  where  William  III.  was  defeated,  when 
the  brigade  of  the  Bourbonnais  was  flying  before  the  onset  of 
the  allies,  there  was  no  time  for  foppery,  and  the  finest  gentle- 
men of  the  court  came  spurring  to  the  front  of  the  line  of  battle 
with  tli^ir  cravats  in  disorder.     It  therefore  became  a  fashion 


NOTES  145 

among  the  beauties  of  Paris  to  wear  around  their  necks  kerchiefs 
of  the  finest  lace  studiously  disarranged,  and  these  kerchiefs 
were  called  "  steenkirks." 

1.  10.  Hampton  Court  was  built  by  Wolsey,  and  became  a 
favorite  residence  of  the  English  sovereigns.  It  was  here  that 
the  famous  conference  of  1604  was  held,  at  which  it  was  decided 
to  make  a  new  translation  of  the  Bible,  which  afterwards  became 
known  as  the  King  James  Version. 

Page  4,  line  13.  Parnell,  Thomas,  (1679-1718),  was  a  poet  of 
Irish  birth,  who  assisted  Pope  in  his  translation  of  Homer,  and 
wrote  the  life  of  Homer  which  is  prefixed  to  the  Iliad. 

1.  14.  Dr.  Blair,  a  Scottish  divine,  who  was  appointed  Pro- 
fessor of  Rhetoric  and  Belles-lettres  in  Edinburgh  University. 
He  wrote  and  published  a  series  of  lectures  on  Rhetoric  which 
were  very  popular. 

1.  15.  Dr.  Johnson's  tragedy.  The  play  referred  to  is  the 
one  which  was  first  acted  under  the  name  of  Mahomet  and 
Irene.  It  had  "  no  plot  worth  mentioning,  no  development  of 
characters,  no  bustle  or  intrigue,  and  was  totally  without 
interest."  For  a  brief  though  careful  sketch  of  Johnson's  life 
and  writings  see  Edmund  Gosse's  History  of  English  Literature 
in  the  Eighteenth  Century^  pp.  282-295. 

1.  24.  Button's.  A  noted  coffee-house  in  London,  which 
was  much  frequented  by  Addison  and  his  friends. 

Page  5,  line  21.  Biographia  Britannica  was  a  collection  of 
short  biographical  sketches,  which  was  published  in  London, 
1747-1766.  An  enlarged  edition  was  begun  in  1778,  but  was 
carried  only  to  the  fifth  volume.  In  the  large  list  of  books 
which  Macaulay  read  while  in  India,  in  addition  to  all  his 
other  labors,  he  includes  this  ponderous  work. 

L 


146  NOTES 

1.  23.  Queen's  College,  one  of  the  important  colleges  of 
Oxford,  was  founded  in  13-10. 

Page  6,  line  6.  Wild  of  Sussex.  This  was  a  tract  of  land 
extending  from  the  Straits  of  Dover  to  Beachy  Head.  Wild  is 
from  A.-S.iceald,  forest. 

1.  8.  Dunkirk  is  a  fortified  seaport  town  in  the  extreme 
northern  part  of  France.  It  was  burned  by  the  English  in 
1388,  and  captured  by  them  in  1658,  but  was  sold  back  to  the 
French  king  by  Charles  II.  in  1662. 

1.  9.  Tangier  is  the  chief  port  of  Morocco,  and  is  located  on 
the  Straits  of  Gibraltar.  Although  in  summer  its  climate  is 
very  trying,  in  the  winter  it  is  exceptionally  fine. 

1.  11.  Infanta.  In  Spain  and  Portugal  any  princess  of  the 
royal  blood,  except  the  eldest  daughter  when  heir-apparent,  is 
called  infanta.  Catharine  of  Braganza  was  the  daughter  of 
John  IV.  of  Portugal  and  queen  of  Charles  II.  She  brought 
Tangier  and  Bombay  in  dower. 

Page  7,  line  6.  Tillotson,  (1630-1694),  was  originally  a  strict 
Puritan,  but  at  the  Restoration  he  went  over  to  the  Established 
Church,  and  was  given  numerous  honors.  In  1689  he  was 
appointed  by  William  a  member  of  a  commission  to  revise 
the  English  liturgy,  and  in  1691  was  made  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury. 

1.  11.  Charter  House,  (a  corruption  of  Chartreuse),  was  a 
hospital  and  school  in  London,  which  was  founded  in  1611. 
The  school  is  for  the  benefit  of  "  the  sons  of  poor  gentlemen  to 
whom  the  charge  of  education  is  too  onerous."  Among  the 
eminent  men  educated  there  were  Addison,  John  Wesley, 
George  Grote,  Bishop  Thirlwall,  and  Thac*keray. 


NOTES  147 

Page  8,  line  7.  Magdalene  (pronounced  maudlin)  College. 
See  Macaulay's  History  of  Enrjland,  II.,  Ch.  VII.,  p.  222,  for 
a  brilliant  desGiiption  of  this  college. 

1.  U.     his  Chancellor.     The  infamous  Judge  Jeffries. 

1.  19.  a  president.  John  Hough,  a  distinguished  bishop  of 
the  English  Church. 

1.  16.     a  Papist.     Anthony  Farmer. 

Page  9,  line  17.  Demies.  The  "corporation  or  society  of 
Magdalene  College  consisted  of  a  president,  of  thirty  scholars 
calledr  demies,  and  of  a  train  of  chaplains,  clerks,  and  choristers. 

Page  10,  line  12.  Lucretius,  (94-55  b.c),  was  a  Roman,  and 
the  greatest  poet  of  rationalism  the  world  has  ever  produced. 
His  one  great  poem  was  the  De  Berum  Xatnra,  which  is  called 
the  greatest  didactic  poem  ever  written.  Professor  Wilkinson 
says  of  it : 

"It  was  almost  an  exact  opposite  to  the  object  of  the  great 
poem  of  Milton.  That  object  was  to  explore  eternity  and 
vindicate  the  ways  of  God  to  man.  This  object  was  to  explore 
the  universe  and  vindicate  man  against  the  ways  of  gods,  — 
gods  that  were  no  gods.  The  audacious  sublimity,  the  sublime 
audacity  of  their  several  attempts,  seem  to  ally  the  two  poets  in 
genius  while  separating  them  thus  widely  in  aim." 

Lucretius  is  known  as  the  great  apostle  of  atheism  of  ancient 
times. 

1.  13,  Catullus,  Gains  Valerius,  (87-54  b.c),  was  a  Roman 
lyric  poet,  and  was  chiefly  noted  for  the  gi'ace  and  beauty  of 
his  style. 

1.  13.  Claudian  was  a  Roman  epic  poet,  and  is  regarded 
as  the  last  of  the  classical  Latin  poets.  He  was  born  at  about 
the  end  of  the  fourth  century. 


148  NOTES 

1. 13.  Prudentius,  Aurelius  Clemens,  (348-405),  was  a  Roman 
poet,  who  devoted  himself  almost  exclusively  to  theological 
studies  and  religious  poetry. 

1.  20.  Buchanan,  George,  (1506-1582),  was  a  classical  scholar 
of  great  repute.  He  was  the  tutor  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  and 
afterwards  preceptor  of  the  young  king,  James  VI.,  of  Scot- 
land, who  succeeded  to  the  English  throne  upon  the  death  of 
Elizabeth. 

Page  11,  line  16.  Metamorphoses.  The  best-known  work  of 
the  great  Latiu  poet,  Publius  Ovidius  Naso,  better  known  as 
Ovid. 

1.  20.  Statins,  Publius  Papinius,  (45-96),  was  a  Roman 
author  and  poet. 

1.  24.     For  the  myth  of  Pentheus  see  Gayley's  Classic  Myths. 
Page  12,  line  1.     Theocritus  was  a  Greek  poet,  who  flourished 
in  the  first  half  of  the  third  century  b.c. 

1.  1.  Euripides,  (480-406  b.c),  was  the  third  of  the  great  trio 
of  Greek  dramatists,  the  other  two  being  Sophocles  and  -^schylus. 

1.  10.  Ausonius,  Decimus  Magnus,  (310-394),  and  Manilius, 
Marcus,  who  lived  during  the  age  of  Augustus,  were  both  minor 
Latin  poets. 

1.  20.     Polybius,  (204-125  b.c),  was  a  noted  Greek  historian. 

1.  20.  Livy,  (59  b.c.-17  a.d.),  was  the  greatest  of  Roman 
historians.  His  life  was  devoted  to  the  preparation  of  a  history 
of  Rome  from  its  foundation  to  9  b.c,  in  one  huntlred  and 
forty-two  books,  of  which  only  thirty-five  have  come  down  to  us. 
While  not  always  accurate,  his  narrative  is  fluent  and  vividly 
picturesque,  and  is  frequently  brilliant  and  dramatic. 

1.  21.     Silius    Italicus,  (25-101),  wrote    an   epic  poem  in 


NOTES  149 

seventeen  books  on  the  Second  Punic  War.  It  is  the  longest 
and  probably  the  dullest  of  all  Latin  poems. 

1. 22.  Plutarch,  (66-120),  was  a  great  Greek  biographer.  The 
most  famous  of  his  works  is  a  series  of  Parallel  Lives,  forty- 
six  lives  in  twenty-three  pairs,  a  Greek  biography  being  set  over 
against  a  Roman. 

1.  24.  Atticus,  Titus  Pompon ius,  (109-32  b.c),  was  an  ac- 
complished Roman  author  and  historian. 

Page  13,  line  2.  Lucan,  (39-65),  was  a  nephew  of  Seneca. 
Only  a  portion  of  one  of  his  works  is  extant,  Pharsalia,  or  De 
Bello  Cimli,  a  heroic  poem  of  ten  books  treating  of  the  civil 
wars  between  Caesar  and  Pompey. 

1.  5.  Pindar,  ("The  Theban  Eagle''),  was  the  greatest  of 
Greek  lyric  poets. 

1.  5.     Callimachus  was  a  writer  of  hymns  and  epigrams. 

1.  7.  Horace,  (65-8  b.c),  was  the  greatest  of  Roman  lyric 
poets.  His  works  are  more  widely  read  to-day  and  more  gener- 
ally admired  than  those  of  any  other  Latin  poet. 

1.  8.  Juvenal,  (56-140),  was  a  Roman  satirist.  He  wrote 
sixteen  satires  in  heroic  hexameters,  which  were  full  of  stern 
indignation  against  the  vices,  follies,  and  crimes  of  Roman  life. 
His  descriptions  were  vivid,  realistic,  and  oftentimes  coarse. 

Page  14,  line  5.  Cock-Lane  ghost.  In  Cock-Lane,  Stock- 
well,  in  1762,  certain  knockings  were  heard,  which  Mr.  Parsons, 
the  owner,  declared  proceeded  from  the  ghost  of  Mrs.  Kent,  who 
(he  wished  people  to  suppose)  had  been  murdered  by  her  hus- 
band. All  London  was  agog  with  the  story ;  but  it  was  found 
out  that  the  knockings  were  produced  by  a  girl  employed  by 
Parsons,  and  were  made  by  rapping  on  a  board  which  she  took 
into  her  bed. 


150  NOTES 

1.  6.  Ireland's  Vortigern.  William  Henry  Ireland,  (1777- 
1835),  was  an  author  who  was  noted  chiefly  for  his  forgeries. 
Having  made  a  visit  to  Stratford-upon-Avon  he  forged  a  lease 
containing  the  pretended  signature  of  Shakespeare,  which  he  said 
he  had  discovered  among  some  old  law  papers.  He  afterwards 
executed  other  similar  forgeries,  among  which  was  Vortigern,  a 
tragedy  purporting  to  have  been  written  by  Shakespeare.  Be- 
sides this  he  wrote  Henry  II.  and  attributed  it  also  to  Shake- 
speare, but  the  true  origin  of  both  of  these  plays  was  soon 
discovered. 

1.  7.  the  Thundering  Legion.  This  name  was  given  to  a 
legion  of  Christians  who  served  under  the  Koman  emperor, 
Marcus  Aurelius.  The  tradition  is  in  brief  that  once  while  on 
the  march  they  were  so  tormented  with  thirst  that  they  prayed 
to  God  for  rain.  The  prayer  was  answered  by  a  terrific  thun- 
derstorm which  not  only  enabled  them  to  quench  their  thirst, 
but  also  destroyed  a  large  number  of  the  enemy. 

1.  8.  Agbarus.  Eusebius  states  that  this  king  was  taken 
sick  and  wrote  a  letter  to  Jesus  begging  him  to  come  and  heal 
him.  Christ  answered  by  a  letter,  saying  that  he  would  send 
one  of  his  disciples. 

1.  21.  Boyle,  Charles,  (1676-1731),  was  an  author,  soldier, 
and  statesman,  but  was  more  distinguished  as  a  soldier  than  as 
a  writer.  He  edited  and  published  the  so-called  Epistles  of 
Fhalaris. 

1.  21.  Blackmore,  Sir  Richard,  (1650-1729),  was  a  physician 
and  a  voluminous  writer  of  theological  and  poetical  works  of 
little  value  or  interest. 

Page  15,  line  11.  Bentley,  Richard,  (1662-1742),  was  the 
srcatest  critic  and  classical  scholar  of  his  age. 


NOTES  151 

1.  22.     His  lines  on  the  Barometer  and  the  Bowling  Green. 

Johnson  says  :  "Three  of  his  Latin  poems  are  upon  subjects 
"11  which,  perhaps,  he  would  not  have  ventured  to  have  written 
in  his  own  language.  The  Battle  of  the  Cranes  and  Pj^gmies ; 
tue  Barometer  ;  and  a  Bowling  Green,  When  the  matter  is 
low  and  scanty,  a  dead  language,  in  which  nothing  is  mean  be- 
cause nothing  is  familiar,  affords  great  conveniences  ;  and  by 
the  sonorous  magnificence  of  Roman  syllables,  the  writer  con- 
ceals penury  of  thought  and  want  of  novelty  often  from  the 
reader  and  often  from  himself." 

1.  24.  Dissertation  on  the  Epistles  of  Phalaris.  Phalaris, 
who  was  proverbially  the  most  cruel  tyrant  known  to  antiquity, 
was  ruler  of  Agrigentum  in  Sicily  in  the  middle  of  the  sixth 
century  b.c.  Little  is  known  of  him  historically,  though  his 
ingenious  cruelty  forms  the  subject  of  many  fables  and  stories. 
The  famous  Epistles,  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  in  number, 
fir.st  printed  in  Venice  in  1498,  and  afterwards  often  reprinted 
and  translated,  give  quite  another  picture  of  his  character,  and 
were  read  and  generally  believed  to  be  authentic  until  Bentley 
proved  them  spurious  in  what  Person  styles  "that  immortal 
dissertation  "  to  which  no  answer  was  or  could  be  given. 

Page  16,  lines  18-21.  These  verses  occur  in  the  Battle  of  the 
Cranes  and  Pygmies  and  may  be  translated  as  follows  :  — 

"And  now  into  the  midst  of  the  squadrons  the  bold  leader 
of  the  Pygmies  forces  his  way,  who,  awe-inspiring  in  his  majesty 
and  commanding  in  his  movements,  excels  all  the  rest  with  his 
gigantic  form,  and  rises  to  the  height  of  the  elbow." 

1.  25.  coffee-houses  round  Drury  Lane  theatre.  Before  the 
introduction  of  newspapers,  coffee-houses  were  important  cen- 
tres or  sources  of  information  where  people  assembled  to  learn 
the   news  and  discuss  the   important  questions   of    the   day. 


152  NOTES 

The  following  were  among  the  most  noted  resorts  of  this 
period :  — 

Garraway's,  which  was  located  in  Cornhill,  was  much  fre- 
quented by  those  who  were  engaged  in  mercantile  transactions. 
It  is  said  that  tea  was  sold  here  first  in  England. 

The  Grecian,  so  called  after  the  Greek  by  whom  it  was  kept, 
was  the  common  resort  of  scholars  and  students. 

Button's  was  the  favorite  resort  of  Addison  and  his  cronies. 

Jonathan's  was  frequented  by  stock-jobbers  and  speculators. 

The  October  Club  was  a  parliamentary  club  formed  in  1690. 
It  was  named  for  the  October  ale  for  which  it  was  famed. 

Child's  was  an  establishment  in  St.  Paul's  churchyard,  much 
frequented  by  professional  men. 

St.  James'  was  a  famous  Whig  resort. 

White's  Chocolate  House  was  noted  as  a  resort  of  gamblers 
and  sporting  men.  For  a  description  of  the  origin  and  growth 
of  the  Coffee-house,  see  Macaulay's  England,  /.,  Ch.  III.,  p.  286. 

Page  17,  line  3.  Dryden,  (1631-1700),  was  an  English  poet 
and  dramatist.     He  was  appointed  poet-laureate  in  1668. 

1.  9.  Congreve,  William,  (1670-1729),  was  an  English  dra- 
matic poet,  of  whom  Donald  Mitchell  says  :  "  Congreve  was  in 
his  way  an  important  man  —  immensely  admired.  Voltaire 
said  he  was  the  best  comedy  writer  England  had  ever  known  ; 
and  when  he  came  to  London  this  keen-witted  Frenchman 
(who  rarely  visited)  went  to  see  Mr.  Congreve  at  his  rooms  in 
the  Strand.  Nothing  was  too  good  for  Mr.  Congreve  ;  he  had 
patronage  and  great  gifts ;  it  seemed  always  to  be  raining 
roses  upon  his  head.  The  work  he  did  was  not  great  work,  but 
it  was  exquisitely  done." 

1.  11.  Charles  Montague,  Earl  of  Halifax,  (1661-1715),  was 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  under  William   III.     He  was  a 


NOTES  153 

noted  statesman  and  a  patron  of  letters.     See  Macaulay's  Eng- 
land. 

1.  20.  Newdigate  and  Seatonian  prizes  were  prizes  given  at 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  respectively  for  English  verse.  The 
Newdigate  prize  was  not  to  be  awarded  to  a  poem  which 
exceeded  fifty  lines  in  length,  and  the  Seatonian  prize  was  for 
the  best  English  poem  upon  a  subject  "to  be  most  conducive 
to  the  honor  of  the  supreme  Being  and  the  recommendation  of 
virtue." 

1.  21.  The  heroic  couplet  was  iambic  pentameter,  a  measure 
which  lends  itself  to  a  clear,  terse,  and  epigrammatic  style.  As 
Macaulay  says,  it  was  mechanical,  and  was  soon  abandoned. 
Lowell  called  it  "the  rocking-horse  measure." 

Page  18,  line  16.  Rochester,  John  Wilmot,  Earl  of,  (1648- 
1680),  was  a  favorite  at  the  court  of  Charles  II.,  and  was  noted 
for  his  wit  and  his  vices.  He  wrote  some  poems  and  letters 
which  were  both  vulgar  and  licentious.  Taine  says  of  him  : 
"  His  manners  were  those  of  a  lawless  and  wretched  mounte- 
bank. ...  He  spent  his  time  between  gossiping  with  the 
maids  of  honor,  broils  with  men  of  letters,  the  receiving  of 
insult,  and  the  giving  of  blows." 

1.  17.  Marvel,  Andrew,  (1621-1678),  was  a  friend  and  as- 
sistant of  Milton  in  the  Latin  secretaryship.  He  wrote  politi- 
cal satires  and  some  very  sweet  and  beautiful  verse. 

1.  17.  Oldham,  John,  (1653-1683),  was  a  satirical  poet.  Hal- 
lara  says  of  him:  "  His  poems  are  spirited  and  pointed,  and  he 
ranks  after  Dryden." 

1.  19.  Ben  Jonson,  (1573-1637),  was  probably  the  greatest 
dramatist,  next  to  Shakespeare,  of  the  Elizabethan  Age.  His 
best-known  works  are  Every  Man  in  his  Humor  and  Every  Man 


154  NOTES 

out  of  his  Humor,  lie  was  made  poet-laureate  in  1619.  He 
was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey,  where  his  tombstone  bears 
the  inscription,   "  0-rare  Ben  Jonson." 

1.  19.  Hoole,  John,  (1727-1803),  was  an  English  dramatist 
and  translator. 

1.  24.  Brunei,  Sir  Marc  Isambard,  (1769-1849),  was  noted  as  a 
skilful  engineer  and  the  author  of  a  number  of  ingenious  inven- 
tions. He  invented  a  machine  for  turning  out  block  pulleys, 
which  are  referred  to  in  the  text.  He  planned  and  constructed 
the  first  tunnel  under  the  Thames. 

Page  19,  lines  4-12.  This  selection  is  taken  from  Jonson's  The 
Poetaster.,  V.,  1.    It  is  a  translation  of  the  uUiieid,  IV.,  178-183. 

1.  16.  Tasso,  Torquato,  (1544-1595),  was  an  Italian  poet 
and  the  author  of  the  great  epic  poem  Gerusalemme  Liberata. 
The  selection  in  the  text  is  taken  from  this  work,  XIV.,  58. 
It  will  be  interesting  to  compare  this  translation  with  the 
standard  one  of  J.  H.  Wiffen,  in  which  the  passage  reads : 

"  O  thou,  whoe'er  thou  art,  whom  sweet  self-will, 
Or  eliauce,  or  idlesse  to  this  region  guides  I 

No  greater  wonder  in  design  or  skill 
Can  the  world  show  than  that  this  islet  hides ; 

Pass  o'er  and  see." 

Page  20,  line  5.  Duke,  Kichard,  (1655-1711),  an  English  theo- 
logian and  poet  of  very  doubtful  ability. 

1.  6.  Stepney,  George,  (1663-1707),  Johnson  saj^s  of  him  : 
"  He  apparently  professed  himself  a  poet,  and  added  his  name 
to  those  of  other  wits  in  the  version  of  Juvenal;  but  he  is  a 
very  licentious  translator,  and  does  not  recompense  his  neglect 
of  the  author  by  beauties  of  his  own.  In  his  original  poems, 
now  and  then,  a  happy  line  may,  perhaps,  be  found  and,  now 


NOTES  155 

and  then,  a  short  composition  may  give  pleasure.  But  there 
is,  in  the  whole,  little  either  of  the  grace  of  wit  or  the  vigor  of 
nature." 

1.  6.  Granville,  George,  (1667-1735),  was  a  statesman  and  a 
writer  of  some  repute,  but  is  now  forgotten. 

1.6.  Walsh,  William.  (1663-1709).  Johnson  says  of  him : 
"He  is  known  more  by  his  familiarity  with  greater  men  than 
by  anything  done  or  written  by  himself.'' 

1.  23.  -'After  his  bees."  The  subject  of  the  Fourth  Georgia 
is  the  keeping  of  bees. 

Page  21,  line  17.  Dorset,  Charles  Sackville,  Earl  of,  (1637- 
170G),  was  a  noted  courtier  and  patron  of  letters.  Among  the 
authors  who  profited  by  his  generosity  was  Dryden.  He  wrote 
a  number  of  satires  and  songs  which  were  much  admired. 

1.  20.  See  Hasselas,  Prince  of  Abyssinia,  the  most  noted  of 
the  works  of  Samuel  Johnson.  It  was  written  in  a 'week's 
time  to  defray  the  expenses  of  his  mother's  funeral. 

Page  22.  line  17.  Somers,  John,  (1651-1716),  was  one  of 
the  most  noted  scholars  and  statesmen  of  the  times.  He  was 
the  leader  of  the  Whig  party,  and  during  the  reign  of  William 
III.  occupied  many  high  official  positions,  and  was  Anally 
appointed  Lord  Chancellor  in  1697. 

Page  23,  line  25.  Charles  Seymour,  Duke  of  Somerset, 
(1661-1748),  and  Charles  Talbot,  Dtike  of  Shrewsbury,  (16()0- 
1718),  were  both  noted  Whig  statesmen  and  patrons  of  letters. 
The  leading  statesmen  of  Addison's  time  were  accustomed  to 
extend  their  patronage  to  writers  of  prominence,  and  thus  put 
them  under  obligations  which  they  could  not  fail  to  acknow- 
ledge. 


156  NOTES 

Page  24,  line  1.  Prior,  Matthew,  (1664-1721),  was  an  Eng- 
lish poet  and  diplqmatist. 

1.  4.  Both  the  great  chiefs  of  the  Ministry.  Somers  and 
Montague. 

1.  11.  peace  of  Ryswick.  A  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  at 
this  place  between  France  and  the  allies,  Germany,  England, 
Holland,  and  Spain,  September  21,  1697. 

Page  25,  line  22.  a  toast.  A  lady  whose  health  is  drunk  in 
honor  or  respect. 

Page  26,  line  1.  the  Kit  Cat  Club  was  one  of  the  most 
famous  clubs  of  this  period.  It  dates  from  1703,  and  was  made 
up  of  about  forty  gentlemen  of  rank  and  ability  who  were  in- 
terested in  promoting  the  Protestant  succession  in  the  House  of 
Hanover.  Among  its  members  were  the  Dukes  of  Marlborough 
and  Devonshire,  Lord  Halifax,  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  Congreve, 
Granville,  and  Addison.  Its  name  is  said  to  be  derived  from  a 
noted  pastry  cook,  Christopher  Catt,  who  lived  near  the  tavern 
where  they  met  in  King  Street,  Westminster,  and  supplied  the 
members  with  pies.     The  association  lasted  about  twenty  years. 

1.  10.  Racine,  Jean  Baptiste,  (1639-1699),  was  one  of  the 
greatest  of  French  dramatists.  In  his  earlier  life  he  gave  him- 
self up  to  pleasure  and  dissipation,  but  towards  the  end  of  his 
life  his  moral  attitude  changed  completely,  so  that  he  even  con- 
templated becoming  a  Carthusian  monk. 

1.  12.  Dacier,  Andr^,  (1651-1722),  was  a  French  scholar, 
librarian  of  the  king,  and  translator  of  Plutarch.  An  interest- 
ing passage  from  one  of  Addison's  letters  in  reference  to  this 
translation  of  Plato  is  found  in  Kemble's  State  Papers  and  Let- 
ters, page  237. 


NOTES  157 

"  As  for  the  present  state  of  learning  there  is  nothing  pub- 
Ushed  here  which  has  not  in  it  an  air  of  devotion.  Dacier  has 
been  forced  to  prove  his  Plato  a  very  good  Christian  before  he 
ventures  to  translate  him,  and  has  so  far  complied  with  the  taste 
of  the  age  that  his  whole  book  is  overrun  with  texts  of  scripture, 
and  the  notion  of  pre-existence,  supposed  to  be  stolen  from  two 
verses  out  of  the  Prophets." — Addison  to  Halifax,  Paris,  Oc- 
tober, 1699. 

Dacier  was,  at  this  time,  making  an  effort  to  show  a  relation- 
ship between  the  doctrines  of  Athanasius,  the  great  Alexandrian 
bishop,  (246-273),  and  the  systems  of  Plato,  the  greatest  of  the 
Greek  philosophers,  and  one  whose  works  have  exerted  no  little 
influence  upon  Christian  theology. 

1,  21:  Blois  was  a  beautiful  city  one  hundred  and  twelve 
miles  southwest  of  Paris.  It  was  once  the  favorite  residence  of 
the  kings  of  France. 

Page  27,  line  2.  Joseph  Spence,  (1699-1768),  was  an  English 
author  and  critic. 

1.  12.  The  Guardian  was  published  in  the  interval  between 
the  suspension  of  the  Spectator  and  the  resumption  of  its  publi- 
cation. The  first  number  appeared  March  12,  1713,  and  the 
last  was  published  October  1  of  the  same  year. 

1.  21.  Malbranche,  Nicolas,  (1638-1715),  was  a  French 
philosopher. 

1.  21.  Boileau,  Nicolas,  (1636-1711),  was  a  French  poet  and 
satirist. 

1.  23.  Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  (1642-1727),  was  perhaps  the  most 
illustrious  of  English  philosophers  and  scientists.  Sir  James 
Mcintosh  says:  "  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Locke,  and  Newton  are 


158  NOTES 

four  names  beyond  competition  superior  to  any  that  the  Conti- 
nent can  put  against  tliem."     Pope  wrote  : 

"  Nature  and  Nature's  laws  lay  hid  in  night: 
God  said  '  Let  Newton  be  '  and  all  was  light." 

1.  24.  Hobbes,  Thomas,  (1588-1679),  was  an  English  philoso- 
pher. He  wrote  many  works,  but  probably  the  best  known  of 
them  all  is  the  Leviathan^  published  in  IGol,  which  contains  the 
complete  system  of  his  philosophy. 

Page  28,  line  6.  the  Academy.  The  first  institution  of  this 
kind  in  France  was  founded  by  Cardinal  Kichelieu  in  1635.  It 
was  formed  for  the  purpose  of  refining  the  French  language  and 
style,  and  to  that  end  published  a  dictionary  of  the  national 
language  in  1Q94.  It  consisted  of  forty  members,  and  a  place 
among  them  was  eagerly  sought  as  one  of  the  highest  honors 
which  could  be  attained  by  an  autlior.  It  was  reorganized  in 
1795  and  again  in  1806  by  Napoleon  so  as  to  be  much  more 
comprehensive  in  its  scope  and  design,  and  to-day  membership 
in  the  Academy  is  the  most  distinguished  honor  to  which  a 
French  scholar  or  scientist  can  aspire. 

1.  17.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  (1723-1792),  was  a  distinguished 
painter.  He  was  the  central  figure  in  a  number  of  literary  and 
political  clubs,  and  was  noted  as  a  host.  He  was  the  first  presi- 
dent of  the  Royal  Academy. 

1.  18.  Mrs.  Thrale  was  celebrated  in  her  youth  as  "the 
beautiful  Miss  Salisbury,"  Dr.  Johnson  was  an  inmate  of  her 
family  from  1766  to  1781  at  Southwark  and  at  Streatham. 
Accordhig  to  Dr.  Johnson:  '-If  not  the  wisest  woman  in  the 
world,  she  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  wisest."  See  Macaulay's 
Essay  on  Johnson. 

1.  18.     Wieland,  Christoph  Martin, (1733-1813). 


NOTES  159 

1.  19.  Lessing,  Gotthold  Epliraim,  (1729-1781).  It  is  said  of 
him:  -'The  principal  characteri-stic  of  Lessing's  mind  was  his 
pure  and  passionate  love  of  truth.  By  his  heroic  struggle  for 
the  possession  of  truth  he  became  the  greatest  critic  of  modern 
times,  the  reformer  in  literature,  and  one  of  the  foremost  liber- 
ators of  the  human  mind  not  only  for  the  eighteenth  century 
but  for  all  time." 

1.  22.  Absalom  and  Ahitophel  was  a  political  satire  by 
Drj'den. 

Page  30,  line  5.  Pollio,  Gains  Asinius,  (76  e.g.— 5  a.d.), 
was  a  Roman  poet,  historian,  and  critic  who  enjoyed  the  friend- 
ship of  Vergil  and  Horace.  He  also  excelled  as  an  orator,  and 
was  sometimes  ranked  next  to  Cicero.  It  is  difficult  for  a  mod- 
ern student  to  see  any  just  grounds  for  his  criticism  of  Livy's 
style. 

1.  18.  Erasmus,  Desiderius,  (1467-1536),  a  celebrated  scholar 
and  philosopher,  was  born  in  Holland.  He  established  the 
reputation  of  bemg  the  most  eminent  scholar  and  witty  writer 
of  the  times.  He  was  a  friend  of  Luther,  and  did  much  to 
forward  the  Reformation  in  its  first  stages,  but  he  afterwards 
dissented  from  some  of  Luther's  doctrines  and  was  denounced 
by  him. 

1.  18.  Fracastorius,  Hieronymus,  (1483-1553),  was  a  learned 
physician  and  poet  of  Verona. 

1.  19.  Robertson.  TTilliam,  (1721-1793),  was  a  native  of  Mid- 
Lothian,  Scotland,  and  was  noted  for  his  advanced  scholarship 
and  as  a  historian. 

1.  25.  alcaics  of  Gray.  Alcaics  are  lyric  poems  written  in  a 
peculiar  measure  first  used  by  Alcaeus,  a  Greek  poet,  who  flour- 
ished about  600  B.C. 


160  NOTES 

1.  25.  Thomas  Gray,  (1716-1771),  was  an  English  poet,  and  is 
best  known  for  his  "  Elegy  Written  in  a  Country  Churchyard." 

I.  25.  elegiacs :  a  style  of  verse  commonly  used  by  the  Greeks 
and  Romans  in  writing  elegies.  It  consists  of  couplets  of  alter- 
nate hexameters  and  pentameters. 

Page  31,  line  1.  Vincent  Bourne,  (1695-1747),  was  an  usher 
in  Westminster  School,  who  was  admJred  for  his  Latin  poetry. 
Cowper,  who  was  his  pupil  in  AVestminster,  says  of  him,  "  I 
think  him  a  better  Latin  poet  than  Tibullus,  Propertius,  Au- 
sonius,  or  any  of  the  writers  in  his  way,  except  Ovid,  and  not 
at  all  inferior  to  him.' ' 

II.  4-8.  "  Do  not  think,  however,  that  I  desire  to  criticize  the 
Latin  verses  of  your  illustrious  academicians  which  you  have 
sent  me.  I  have  found  them  very  beautiful  and  worthy  of 
Vida  and  Sannazar,  but  not  of  Horace  and  of  Vergil."  Vida 
was  a  Latin  poet  of  the  Renaissance,  who  was  noted  for  the 
smoothness  of  his  style  more  than  for  the  originality  of  his 
thought.     Sannazar  was  a  contemporary  of  Vida. 

I.  12.  Pere  Fraguier's  epigrams.  P^re  Fraguier,  (1666-1728), 
was  a  French  savant  and  writer.  An  epigram  is  a  short  poem 
of  a  pointed  or  antithetical  character.  The  name  was  given  by 
the  Greeks  to  a  poetic  inscription  on  a  public  monument. 

II.  21-23.  "  Why  do  you  bid  me,  0  Muse,  born  of  a  Sicam- 
brian  father  far  this  side  of  the  Alps,  to  stammer  again  in  Latin 
numbers  ?  " 

1.  25.  Machinoe  Gesticulantes^  Gerano-Pygmceomachia  were 
the  names  of  two  of  Addison's  Latin  poems. 

Page  32,  line  17.  the  Spectator  was  the  well-known  period- 
ical which  succeeded  the  Tatler,  under  the  joint  editorship  of 
Steele  and  Addison. 


NOTES  161 

Page  33,  line  1.  Dauphin  was  the  name  given  to  the  oldest 
son  of  the  king  of  France,  who  was  the  heir  apparent  to  the 
throne. 

1.  3.  States-General  was  an  assembly  composed  of  repre- 
sentatives of  the  nation.  The  national  assemblies  of  both 
France  and  Holland  were  known  by  this  name.  Here  the  ref- 
erence is  to  Holland. 

Page  34,  line  9.  The  stanzas  of  the  hymn  which  refer  to 
this  incident  are  as  follows : 

"  Think,  O  my  soul,  devoutly  think, 
How  with  affrighted  eyes 
Thou  saw'st  the  wide  extended  deep 
In  all  its  horrors  rise. 

"  Confusion  dwelt  in  every  face, 
And  fear  in  every  heart, 
When  waves  on  waves,  and  gulphs  in  gulphs, 
O'ercame  the  pilot's  art. 

'*  Yet  then  from  all  my  griefs,  O  Lord, 
Thy  mercy  set  me  free. 
Whilst  in  the  confidence  of  prayer 
My  soul  took  hold  on  thee. 


"  The  storm  was  laid,  the  winds  retired, 
Obedient  to  thy  will ; 
The  sea  that  roared  at  thy  command 
At  thy  command  was  still. 

**  In  midst  of  dangers,  fears  and  death, 
Thy  goodness  I'll  adore, 
And  praise  thee  for  thy  mercies 
And  humbly  hope  for  more. 

M 


162  .    NOTES 

"  My  life,  if  thou  preserv'st  my  life, 
Thy  sacritice  shall  be  ; 
And  death,  if  death  must  be  my  doom, 
Shall  join  my  soul  to  thee." 

1.  14.  Genoa  was  under  the  rule  of  France  from  1380  to 
1528,  when  Andrea  Doria  threw  oft"  the  French  domination  and 
restored  the  old  form  of  government,  under  hereditary  rulers 
known  as  doges,  which  endured  until  the  French  Revolution. 

1.  17.    Book  of  Gold.     The  state  register  of  nobility. 

1.  24.  Lake  Benacus.  The  modern  Lago  di  Garda,  the  larg- 
est and  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  lakes  of  northern 
Italy.  On  account  of  its  fine  climate  and  the  beauty  of  its 
scenery  it  has  been  a  popular  resort  from  the  earliest  times. 

Page  35,  line  13.  Tasso,  Bernardo,  (1493-1569),  was  a  noted 
Italian  poet.     Observe  the  anachronism. 

Page  36,  line  5.  San  Marino  is  the  oldest  and  smallest  inde- 
pendent republic  in  the  world.  It  is  situated  in  eastern  central 
Italy,  includes  an  area  of  thirty-two  square  miles,  and  has  a 
population  of  about  8,000. 

1.  18.  St.  Peter's  is  the  celebrated  basilica  in  Rome,  and 
is  said  to  be  the  largest  church  in  Christendom.  It  was  be- 
gun in  1450,  and  consecrated  by  Pope  Urban  VIII,  in  1626. 
Raphael  had  charge  of  the  building  for  some  time,  and  Michael 
Angelo  designed  the  dome. 

1.  19.  the  Pantheon  is  the  oldest  and  most  perfectly  pre- 
served of  all  the  ancient  structures  in  Rome.  It  was  built  by 
Marcus  Agrippa,  27  b.c,  and  was  restored  by  Severus  and 
Caracalla,  202  a.d.  It  was  transformed  into  a  Christian  church 
in  60 7- A. D. 


NOTES  .103 

1.  20.  Holy  Week  is  the  last  week  in  Lent,  and  is  sometimes 
known  as  the  "  Still  Week." 

Page  37,  line  15.  Paestum  was  an  ancient  Roman  town  sit- 
uated about  forty  miles  southeast  of  Naples.  Three  very  an- 
cient Doric  temples  still  remain  in  a  fair  state  of  preservation. 

1.  20.     Salvator  Rosa  was  a  celebrated  Italian  painter, 

1.  21.  Vico,  Giovanni  Battista,  was  an  Italian  jurist,  philos- 
opher and  critic. 

1,  25.  Posilipo.  The  tunnel  of  Posilipo,  22t)0  feet  in  length, 
on  the  road  from  Naples  to  Pozzuoli,  was  built  about  thirty-six 
years  before  the  Christian  era  and  is  still  in  use. 

Page  38,  line  2,  Caprese  is  an  island  at  the  entrance  of  the 
Bay  of  Naples.  On  it  is  located  a  famous  cavern  known  as 
the  Grotto  of  the  Nymphs.  The  infamous  Roman  emperor, 
Tiberius,  spent  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  on  this  island,  and 
built  twelve  villas  or  palaces,  of  which  the  ruins  still  remain. 

1.  7,  Philip  the  Fifth,  the  grandson  of  Louis  XIV.  of 
France,  was  declared  heir  to  the  Spanish  throne  by  the  will 
of  Charles  II.,  who  died  childless,  Nov.  1,  1700. 

1.  15.  Jacobitism.  The  Jacobites  were  partisans  of  King 
James  II.,  who  was  dethroned  in  1688.  They  maintained  a 
party  organization,  and  continued  to  plot  for  the  return  of  the 
Stuarts  for  a  number  of  years. 

1.  15,  Freeholder  was  published  from  September  23, 1715,  to 
June  26,  1716.  Addison  contributed  to  it  many  vigorous  arti- 
cles in  support  of  the  government. 

1.  15.  The  Tory  fox-hunter  is  a  delightful  picture  of  a 
partisan  politician.  He  appears  first  in  No.  22  of  the  Free- 
holder^ and  again  in  Nos.  4-i  and  47. 


164  NOTES 

1.  23.    tomb  of  Misenus.     See  the  Eneid,  Bk.  VI. 

Page  39,  line  4.  hot  and  sickly  months.  The  summer  in 
Home  is  very  unhealthful,  especially  for  foreigners. 

1.  20.  Duke  of  Shrewsbury  was  Lord  Chamberlain  to 
James  II.,  and  an  active  promoter  of  the  Revolution  of  1689. 
He  was  Secretary  of  State  under  William  III.  and  a  member  of 
the  Privy  Council  in  the  reign  of  Anne.  Macaulay  says  of  him  : 
"The  character  of  this  man  is  a  curious  study.  ...  He  was, 
with  great  abilities,  a  weak  man,  and,  though  endowed  with 
many  amiable  and  attractive  qualities,  could  not  be  called  an 
honest  man."  Macaulay's  History  of  England,  Vol.  III., 
Ch.  15. 

Page  40,  line  8.  Museum.  Reference  is  probably  made  to 
the  Palazzo  degli  Ufflzi,  which  contains  a  world-famous  collec- 
tion of  statuary  in  marble  and  bronze,  cameos,  and  pictures, 
among  them  the  Venus  by  Titian  and  the  Holy  Family  by 
Michael  Angelo. 

1.  9.  the  Vatican,  the  well-known  palace  of  the  Popes,  was 
built  by  Pope  Leo  IV.,  about  850  a.d.  It  is  made  up  of  a  great 
mass  of  buildings  fronting  on  twenty  different  courts,  and  con- 
tains about  eleven  thousand  rooms.  It  contains  a  great  many 
celebrated  wall  paintings,  an  Etruscan  Museum,  a  few  great 
pictures,  and  the  largest  collection  of  classical  statuary  in 
Europe. 

1.  13.  fiercer  conflict :  The  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession, 
which  broke  out  in  1701. 

1. 13.  Prince  Eugene  was  a  Frenchman,  but  he  entered  the 
Austrian  service  early  in  his  life  and  gained  the  reputation  of 
being  q,  brave  soldier  and  an  able  general.  In  the  war  of  the 
Spanish  Succession  he  first  commanded  the  Austrian  army  in 


NOTES  165 

Italy,  where  he  was  opposed  by  the  French  army  under  Marshal 
Catinat,  whom  he  surprised  and  took  captive. 

1.  15.     The  faithless  ruler  of  Savoy  :  Victor  Amadeus  VI. 

In   this  war  he  first   supported  Louis  but  afterwards   turned 

against  him.     His  defection  was  rewarded  at  the  close  of  the 

,  war  by  the  acquisition  of  the  island  of  Sicily  and  the  title  of 

king. 

1.  19.  the  Grand  Alliance  was  the  second  against  France. 
It  was  composed  of  England,  the  Netherlands,  Germany  and 
Prussia,  Austria,  and  Portugal. 

1.  23.  Mont  Cenis  is  a  mountain  pass  of  the  Alps  between 
Italy  and  France.  Napoleon  built  a  carriage  road  over  it  in 
1803-1810  to  connect  the  two  countries.  It  is  now  pierced  by 
a  tunnel  which  was  opened  in  1871. 

Page  44,  line  8.  Lord  Treasurer  Godolphin,  (1645-1712) ,  was 
a  noted  statesman  of  this  period.  He  held  many  high  positions 
under  James,  William,  and  Anne,  and  had  decided  talents  for 
public  business  but  no  political  or  moral  principles.  When 
chamberlain  to  the  Queen  of  James  II.  he  conformed  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  rites,  and  was  Protestant,  Tory,  or  Whig,  as 
would  best  serve  his  interests. 

1.  8.  Captain  General  Marlborough.  John  Churchill,  first 
Duke  of  Marlborough,  (1650-1722).  was  one  of  the  most  noted 
of  English  generals.  In  the  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession  he 
held  the  chief  command  of  the  allied  forces  and  won  a  series  of 
extraordinary  victories,  among  which  were  Malplaquet,  Oude- 
narde,  Blenheim,  and  many  others.  His  daughter  married 
Godolphin. 

1.  15.  Dissenters  are  English  Protestants  who  differ  in  their 
views  from  the  doctrines  of  the  Established  Church.     In  1689, 


166  NOTES 

by  the  Act  of  Toleration,  they  obtained  legal  security  in  cele- 
brating their  worship. 

Page  45,  line  17.  Mr.  Canning,  (1770-1827),  was  a  noted 
statesman  and  orator.  In  1826  he  was  Secretary  of  Foreign 
Affairs  in  the  cabinet  of  Lord  Liverpool.  "  He  advocated  a 
liberal  and  progressive  policy  and  asserted  the  principle  of  non- 
interference in  the  internal  affairs  of  foreign  states.  ...  At 
home  his  influence  was  seen  in  the  new  strength  gained  by  the 
question  of  Catholic  Emancipation."  Greenls  Shorter  History, 
p.  888. 

His  policy  also  inaugurated  the  movement  which  brought 
about  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws. 

1.  19.  Earl  of  Nottingham  was  Secretary  of  State  under 
William  and  Mary,  and  also  under  Anne.  Earl  of  Jersey  was 
Secretary  of  State  under  William. 

1.  20.  Lord  Eldon,  (1761-1838),  was  Lord  Chancellor  of  Eng- 
land from  1801  to  1827,  with  the  exception  of  one  year.  Lord 
Westmoreland,  (1759-1841),  was  Lord  of  the  Privy  Seal  for  many 
years. 

1.  23.  Somers,  John,  (1651-1716),  was  successively  Solicitor 
General,  Lord  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  and  Lord  Chancellor 
during  the  reign  of  William  III.  He  was  also  chairman  of  the 
committee  which  drew  up  the  Declaration  of  Right. 

1.  23.     Halifax,  Charle-fe  Montague,  Earl  of,  (1661-1715). 

1.  23.  Sunderland,  Charles  Spencer,  third  Earl  of,  C 1674- 
1722),  was  Secretary  of  State  from  1707  to  1710. 

1.  23.  Cowper,  William,  (1664-1723),  was  leader  of  the  Whig 
party  in  the  House  of  Commons  and  was  appointed  Lord  Chan- 
cellor in  1705. 


NOTES  167 

Page  46,  line  5.  Blenheim  was  a  small  village  in  Bavaria: 
The  allied  armies  under  Marlborough  and  Prince  Eugene,  num- 
bering about  52,000  men,  attacked  the  French  and  Bavarians, 
who  slightly  outnumbered  them.  The  victory  was  a  decisive 
one. 

1.  12.  Act  of  Settlement  was  the  act  by  which  the  crown 
was  limited  to  the  House  of  Hanover,  and  all  Roman  Catholics 
were  excluded  from  the  throne. 

1.  20.  Newmarket  is  the  seat  of  the  most  famous  race-courses 
in  England.  Godolphin  is  said  to  have  possessed  an  inordinate 
fondness  for  racing  and  gambling. 

Page  48,  line  25.  similitude  of  the  Angel.  The  lines  referred 
to  are  the  following  : 

."  'Twas  then  great  Marlbro's  mighty  soul  was  prov'd, 
That,  in  the  shock  of  charging  hosts  unmov'd, 
Amidst  confusion,  horror,  and  despair,    ^ 
Examined  all  the  dreadful  scenes  of  war ; 
In  peaceful  thought  the  field  of  death  survey'd, 
To  fainting  squadrons  sent  timely  aid, 
Inspir'd  repuls'd  battalions  to  engage, 
And  taught  the  doubtful  battle  where  to  rage. 
So  when  an  angel  by  divine  command 
"With  rising  tempests  shakes  a  guilty  land, 
Such  as  of  late  o'er  pale  Britannia  past, 
Calm  and  serene  he  drives  the  furious  blast, 
And  pleas'd  tb'  Almighty's  orders  to  perform, 
Rides  in  the  whirlwind,  and  directs  the  storm." 

Page  50,  line  23.  Lifeguardsman  Shaw  was  a  pugilist  who 
gained  considerable  renown  for  the  bravery  which  he  displayed 
at  the  battle  of  ^Yaterloo. 

4 

Page  51,  line  1.     the  Mamelukes  formed  the  ruling  power  in 


1G8  NOTES 

Egypt" the  most  of  the  time  from  1250  to  1798.  They  were 
originally  Tartars  and  Turks  who  were  bought  by  the  Sultan  of 
Egypt  from  Genghis  Khan  and  were  held  for  a  time  as  slaves, 
but  they  soon  overthrew  the  dominion  of  their  masters  and 
formed  a  dynasty  of  their  own.  They  considered  themselves 
invincible  in  war,  but  were  defeated  and  nearly  exterminated 
by  Napoleon  in  the  battle  of  the  Pyramids.  Mourad  Bey  was 
their  leader. 

1.  17.  The  characters  mentioned  here  should  be  familiar 
to  every  student.  The  incidents  are  taken  from  Silius's  epic 
on  the  I*U7iic  Wa7\ 

Page  52,  line  4.  William  III.  defeated  James  IL  in  the  Battle 
of  the  Boyne  River,  in  eastern  Ireland,  July  1,  1690. 

1.  5.  John  Philips,  (1676-1708),  was  styled  by  Macaulay  "the 
poet  of  the  English  vintage."  In  all  his  poems  save  Blenheim 
he  celebrates  the  virtues  of  tobacco.  He  wrote  a  long  poem,  in 
imitation  of  the  Georgics,  on  "  Cider." 

1.  6.  The  Splendid  Shilling  was  a  mock-heroic  poem  in  imita- 
tion of  the  verse  of  Paradise  Lost.  He  also  sought  to  imitate 
the  same  poem  in  Blenheim.     Johnson  says  of  this  attempt : 

"  In  Blenheim  he  imitates  Milton's  numbers,  Indeed,  but 
imitates  them  very  injudiciously.  Deformity  is  easily  copied  ; 
and  whatever  there  is  in  Milton  which  the  reader  wishes  away, 
all  that  is  obsolete,  peculiar  or  licentious  is  accumulated  with 
great  care  by  Philips." 

1.  11.  Tallard  was  the  French  marshal  who  commanded  at 
Blenheim. 

Page  54,  Jine  16.  Victor  Amadeus.  See  note  to  page  40, 
line  15. 


NOTES  169 

I  19.  The  Rutulians  were  a  people  of  ancient  Italy  who 
inhabited  the  coast  of  Latium.  They  were  overcome  by  the 
Trojans  under  Eneas. 

1.  22.  Empress  Faustina  was  the  daughter  of  Antoninus 
Pius  and  the  wife  of  Marcus  Aurelius.     She  died  175  a.d. 

Page  55,  lines  14-16.  Dante  and  Petrarch  were  world-re- 
nowned poeta  of  Italy.  Boccaccio  was  widely  known  as  a  poet 
and  novelist.  Boiardo  and  Berni  were  somewhat  obscure  poets. 
Lorenxo  de'  Medici  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  rulers  of 
Florence  and  raised  that  city  to  a  great  height  of  power  and 
opulence.  He  was  the  father  of  Pope  Leo  IX.  and  was  himself 
a  poet.  He  was  known  as  ''the  Magnificent."'  Machiavelli 
was  a  Florentine  of  great  ability  and  prominence,  a  contempo- 
rary of  Lorenzo.  He  is  best  known  as  the  author  of  //  Principe, 
which  has  made  his  name  a  synonym  of  evil  in  politics.  See 
Macaulay^s  essay  on  Ma-chiavelli. 

1.  17.  Ariosto  was  an  Italian  poet  whose  best-known  work  is 
Orlando  Furioso,  which  has  for  it^  subject  the  romantic  history 
of  Charlemagne  and  his  peers. 

1.  18.  Tasso  was  an  Italian  epic  a"nd  lyric  poet.  Ferrara 
was  the  home  of  both  Tasso  and  Ariosto. 

1.  20.  Valerius  Flaccus  was  a  Roman  epic  poet  who  flourished 
in  the  reign  of  Vespasian.  He  wrote  ArgonaiUica,  which  is  a 
poem  on  the  adventures  of  the  Argonauts.  ' 

1.  20.  Sidonius  ApoUinarius,  (430-480),  was  a  Latin  poet 
and  ecclesiastic. 

1.  21.  Ticin.  The  river  Ticinus  which  gave  ite  name  to  a 
famous  battle  in  the  Second  Punic  TVar. 


170  NOTES 

1.  23.  Martial,  Marcus  Valerius,  (40-104  [?]),  was  a  Roman 
poet  and  wit.     About  Jl  500  of  his  sliort  poems  are  still  extant. 

1.  24.  Santa  Croce  was  a  famous  church  of  the  Black  Friars 
in  Florence.  As  a  favorite  place  of  interment  for  the  Floren- 
tines it  has  often  been  called  the  AVestminster  Abbey  of  that  city. 

Page  56,  line  1.  Spectre  Huntsman  is  the  subject  of  a  tale 
in  Boccaccio's  Decameron. 

1.  1.  Francesca  da  Rimini  lived  at  Rimini,  and  the  house  in 
which  she  lived  still  stands.  For  her  pathetic  story,  see  Dante's 
Infenio,  Canto  V. 

1.7.  VincenzioFilicaja,  (1642-1707).  The  translation  of  one 
of  his  sonnets  U Italia  was  introduced  by  Byron  into  the  fourth 
canto  of  Childe  Harold,  which  begins  "Italia,  0,  Italia  1 "  It 
is  said  of  him  that  "  he  died  deeply  lamented  by  rich  and  poor 
alike  and  beloved  by  God  and  man." 

1.  16.  Macaulay  brings  out  very  strikingly  in  this  passage 
Addison's  devotion  to  classic  literature  and  neglect  of  modern 
Italian  writers.  The  most  of  the  classic  authors  enumerated  are 
of  minor  rank,  while  the  Italian  writers  are  world  renowned. 

1.  18.  Opera  of  Rosamond  was  inscribed  to  the  Duchess  of 
Marlborough.  The  scene  was  laid  in  Woodstock  Park  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  II. 

1.  25.  Rowe,  Nicholas,  (1674-1718),  was  the  author  of  a  num- 
ber of  successful  plays.    He  was  made  poet-laureate  by  George  I. 

Page  57,  line  4.  Dr.  Arne,  (1710-1778),  was  a  celebrated 
musical  composer.  He  wrote  the  music  for  Milton's  Comus, 
and  also  for  the  well-known  song,  "  Rule  Britannia." 

1.  19.     The  order  of  the  garter  was  the  most  illustrious  order 


NOTES  171 

of  English  knighthood.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  founded  by 
Edward  III.  in  1344.  The  incident  which  led  to  its  formation 
is  too  well  known  to  need  repetition.  Membership  in  the  order 
is  restricted  to  the  sovereign,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  such 
other  princes  as  may  be  chosen,  and  twenty-five  regular 
knights.     Others  may  be  admitted  only  by  special  statute. 

1.  20.  The  Electoral  Prince  of  Hanover,  afterwards  George 
I.  of  England,  was  the  great-grand§on,  on  his  mother's  side,  of 
James  I.  of  England. 

Page  58,  line  5.  •  Harley,  Kobert,  Earl  of  Oxford,  (1661-1724), 
on  his  first  entrance  into  Parliament  was  a  radical  Whig,  but 
gradually  changed  his  view^s  until  he  reached  the  opposite  ex- 
treme of  Toryism.  He  was  for  a  time  a  great  favorite  of  Queen 
Anne,  and  very  powerful  in  political  circles.  He  was,  however, 
regarded  with  suspicion  by  her  successor,  George  I.,  and  was 
impeached  of  high  treason,  but  was  acquitted  and  afterwards 
lived  LQ  retirement.  He  accumulated  a  large  collection  of 
books  and  manuscripts,  w^hich  became  known  as  the  Harleian 
collection. 

1.  8.  Duchess  of  Marlborough  was  an  intimate  friend  of 
Queen  Anne,  over  whom  she  exerted  a  powerful  influence. 

1.  9.     The  Captain  General.     The  Duke  of  Marlborough. 

1.  15.  Sacheverell,  Henry,  D.D.,  (1672-1724),  was  a  pulpit 
orator  who  denounced  toleration  to  dissenters,  attacked  Low 
Churchmen,  and  declared  that  the  Church  was  in  danger  on 
account  of  its  leniency.  He  was  impeached  by  the  House  of 
Commons  for  these  utterances,  and  was  sentenced  to  three 
years'  suspension  from  preaching,  and  his  offending  sermons 
were  ordered  burned  by  the  common  hangman. 

1.  21.   Wharton,  Thomas,  (1640-1715),  was  a  Whig  statesman, 


172  NOTES 

who  took  a  prominent  part  in  opposition  to  Charles  II.,  and  was 
one  of  the  first  to  join  the  ranks  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  He 
held  a  number  of  important  official  positions,  but  was  notorious 
for  his  licentiousness. 

Page  59,  lines  16,  17.  Talbot,  Duke  of  Shrewsbury  ;  Russell, 
Duke  of  Bedford  ;  Bentinck,  Duke  of  Portland. 

1.  19.  Chatham,  Earl  of,  (William  Pitt),  (1708-1778),  was 
known  as  the  Great  Commoner.  He  was  the  leader  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  held  the  positions  of  Secretary  of 
State,  to  which  Macaulay  refers,  and  Lord  Privy  Seal.  The 
student  should  read  Macaulay 's  essay  on  Chatham. 

1.  19.  Fox,  Right  Honorable  Charles  James,  (1749-1806),  was 
a  noted  statesman  and  author.  He  was  a  Liberal  leader,  was 
twice  Secretary  of  State,  and  exerted  a  powerful  influence  in 
shaping  the  policy  of  the  government.  He  opposed  the  con- 
tinental policy  of  Pitt,  supported  Wilberforce  in  his  efforts  to 
secure  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  was  always  broad  and 
progressive  ui  his  political  views. 

Y.  25.  Censorship  of  the  Press.  An  aet  licensing  the  publi- 
cation of  periodicals  under  certain  restrictions  had  been  passed 
shortly  after  the  Restoration,  but  had  expired  in  1679.  There>» 
after  any  person  might  print  at  his  own  risk  anything  he  chose, 
except  that  no  man  ha,d  any  right  to  print  political  news  unless 
authorized  by  the  Crown.  For  a  time  this  rule  was  violated,  but 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  James  II.  no  newspaper  was 
allowed  to  be  printed  without  his  permission  ;  and  until  Steele 
and  Addison  began  their  publications  political  discussions  were 
generally  avoided.  In  1693  the  licensing  and  censorship  of 
papers  was  forever  abandoned.  See  Andrews'  History  of 
British  Journalism,  Vol.  I.,  p.  84. 


NOTES  173 

Page  60,  line  8.  Conduct  of  the  Allies  was  a  political  tract 
written  by  Dean  Swift  in  1711. 

1.  9.  The  Freeholder  was  a  political  periodical  conducted  by 
Addison  in  support  of  the  ministry,' from  December  23,  1715,  to 
June  29,  1716.  It  included  in  all  fifty-five  numbers.  In  the 
first  number  he  says:  "I  shall,  in  the  course  of  this  paper, 
endeavor  to  open  the  eyes  of  my  countrymen  to  their  own 
interest,  — to  show  them  the  privileges  of  an  English  freeholder, 
which  they  enjoy  in  common  with  myself,  and  to  make  them 
sensible  how  these  blessings  are  secured  to  us  by  his  majesty's 
title,  his  administration,  and  his  personal  character." 

11. 16, 17.  Antrim  and  Aberdeen  were  counties  m  the  extreme 
northern  part  of  Ireland  and  Scotland  respectively. 

Page  61 ,  line  3.  Walpole,  Sir  Eobert,  (1676-1745) ,  was  Prime 
Minister,  and  practically  ruled  England  from  1721  to  1742.  Eor 
a  most  interesting  discussion  of  his  career,  see  McCarthy's  Four 
Georges,  Vol.  I. 

1.  3.  Pulteney,  William,  Earl  of  Bath,  (1682-1764),  was  an 
influential  statesman  and  leader  of  the  opposition  party  against 
Walpole.     He  was  the  author  of  many  political  pamphlets. 

1.  10.  Grub  Street,  now  known  as  Milton  Street,  was  long 
the  residence  of  index-makers,  translators,  copyists,  small 
-^Titers,  etc.  Johnson  says:  "It  was  originally  the  name  of 
a  street  near  Moorfields,  much  inhabited  by  authors  of  small 
histories,  dictionaries,  and  temporary  poems,  whence  any  mean 
production  is  called  Grub  Street." 

1.  14.  The  Craftsman  was  really  edited  by  Bolingbroke,  who 
was  assisted  by  Pulteney.  This  paper  was  made  the  medium 
for  bitter  attacks  upon  Walpole,  and  was  so  popular  that  some- 
times 10,000  to  12,000  copies  were  sold  in  a  single  day. 


174  NOTES 

1.  19.  St.  John,  Henry,  Viscount  Bolingbroke,  (1678-1751), 
was  a  prominent  Tory  statesman.  In  the  latter  part  of  Anne's 
reign  he  was  Prime  Minister,  but  became  involved  in  schemes 
to  secure  the  return  of  the  -Stuarts,  for  which  he  was  attainted. 
He  fled  to  France  in  1715,  but  was  permitted  to  return  to  England 
in  1724,  but  not  to  enter  Parliament.  He  joined  Pulteney  in 
his  opposition  to  Walpole,  and  edited  the  Craftsman. 

Page  63,  line  5.  Nemesis.  From  the  Greek  word  v^fieiv,  to 
distribute  or  allot ;  hence  the  divinity  who  allots  to  men,  accord- 
ing to  their  deserts,  either  good  or  evil  fortune.  In  Greece, 
however,  this  divinity  came  to  be  known  as  the  avenger  of  evil 
deeds.     She  avenged  pride  and  chastised  the  wicked. 

1.  13.  Mary  Montague,  (1690-1762),  was  noted  for  the  extern 
of  her  knowledge,  the  brilliancy  of  her  conversational  powers, 
the  quickness  of  her  wit,  and  the  attractiveness  of  her  person. 
She  was  the  author  of  a  series  of  brilliant  letters,  some  poems 
and  essays,  and  is  noted  as  being  the  first  to  introduce  inocula- 
tion for  smallpox  into  England. 

1.  19.  Stella  was  a  Miss  Esther  Johnson,  a  lady  of  whom 
Swift  became  enamoured,  and  it  is  generally  supposed  that  he 
was  privately  married  to  her.  She  was  for  many  years  his 
friend  and  companion,  but  never  appeared  publicly  as  his  wife. 
The  Journal  to  Stdla  is  made  up  of  letters  which  were  hastily 
written  to  give  pleasure  to  '*  Stella"  and  a  few  of  his  friends  in 
Ireland.     It  is  the  most  tender  and  pathetic  of  all  his  writings. 

1.  21.  Steele,  Sir  Richard,  (1672-1729),  was  the  friend  and 
associate  of  Addison.  He  was  a  brilliant  writer,  and  was  the 
editor  of  the  Tatter,  which  he  established,  as  well  as  of  several 
other  publications  which  succeeded  it. 

1.  24.  Terence,  (185-159  b.c),  was  a  Roman  slave,  who 
evinced  so  much  talent  that  his  master  educated  and  finally 


NOTES  175 

freed  him.     He  became  a  writer  of  comedies,  and  enjoyed  the 
friendship  of  many  of  the  best  men  in  Rome. 

Page  64,  line  2.  Young,  Edward,  (1681-1765),  was  the  author 
of  Night  Thoughts. 

1.  19.     Mr.  Softly.     A  character  in  the  Tatler.     See  Xo.  163. 

Page  65,  line  7.  Covent  Garden  is  a  corruption  of  Convent 
Garden^  so  called  because  it  was  once  the  garden  of  Westminster 
Abbey.  It  is  a  square  in  London  famous  for  its  fruit  and  flower 
markets. 

Page  QQ,  line  22.  Boswell.  James,  (1740-1795),  was  a  Scotch 
lawyer  who  achieved  fame  by  his  servile  devotion  to  Dr.  John- 
son and  for  the  biography  which  he  wrote,  and  which  is  com- 
monly classed  as  the  greatest  work  of  the  kind  ever  produced. 

1.  23.  Warburton,  William,  (1698-1779),  was  an  eminent 
English  prelate. 

1.  23.  Hurd.  Richard,  D.D.,  (1720-1808),  was  the  lifelong 
friend  of  Bishop  Warburton,  whose  biographer  he  was,  He 
also  wrote  numerous  pamphlets  in  vindication  of  the  views  of 
Warburton,  who  was  a  vigorous  thinker  and  writer  upon  theo- 
logical subjects. 

Page  67,  line  5.  Budgell,  Eustace,  (168-5-1737),  was  a  dis- 
tant relative  of  Addison,  and  was  largely  dependent  upon  him 
for  his  support.  He  had  some  ability  as  a  writer,  and  cultivated 
a  style  somewhat  similar  to  that  of  his  patron.  He  contributed 
a  number  of  papers  to  the  Tatler  and  Spectator. 

1.  22.  Ambrose  Philips,  (1675-1749).  Pope  portrays  him 
as  follows: 

"  The  bard  whom  pilfered  pastorals  renown ; 
Just  writes  to  make  his  barrenness  appear, 
And  strains  from  hard-bound  brains  eight  lines  a  year." 


176  NOTES 

Page  68,  line  2.  Thomas  Tickell,  (1686-1740).  His  only 
well-known  work  is  his  "  Elegy  to  Addison,"  of  which  Dr.  John- 
son declares  that  "  there  is  not  a  more  sublime  or  more  eloquent 
funeral  poem  to  be  found  in  the  whole  compass  of  English 
literature. ' ' 

1.  22.  Spunging  house  was  a  house  or  tavern  where  people 
who  were  arrested  for  debt  were  allowed  to  lodge  twenty-four 
hours  before  being  taken  to  prison,  in  order  to  give  their  friends 
an  opportunity  for  settling  the  debt. 

Page  69,  line  21.  Fielding,  Henry,  (1707-1754),  was  one  of 
the  earliest  of  English  novelists.  His  best-known  works  are  : 
The  Adventures  of  Joseph  Andrews^  Tom  Jones,  and  Amelia. 

Page  70,  line  15.  Bayle,  Pierre,  (1647-1706),  was  a  celebrated 
French  philosopher  and  critic.  His  most  important  work  was  a 
Historical  and  Critical  Dictionary. 

Page  72,  line  16.  Gerard  Hamilton,  (1729-1796).  was  known 
as  "  Single  Speech  Hamilton,"  on  account  of  a  brilliant  speech 
which* he  made  in  Parliament  in  1755,  and  although  he  retained 
his  seat  until  his  death  he  made  only  one  more  speech  during  his 
whole  career. 

Page  73,  line  20.  Gazetteer  was  a  person  authorized  by 
government  to  publish  news,  and  who  was  given  some  access  to 
official  sources.  Some  one  has  said  that  his  duties  v^-ere  to  keep 
the  official  newspaper  very  innocent  and  very  insipid. 

Page  75,  line  1.  Bickerstaff.  '*  This  man,  (John  Partridge), 
had  for  thii'ty  years  published  prophetic  almanacs  of  the  kind 
not  yet  w^hoUy  extinct.  Swift,  under  the  pseudonym  of  Isaac 
Bickerstaff,  published  Predictions  for  the  Year  1708,  which 
were  not  vague  like  those  of  Partridge,  but  gave  the  exact  dates 
at  which  various  interesting  persons,  among  others  Louis  XIY., 


NOTES  111 

would  die  during  that  year.  Bickerstaff  declared  himself  a  sin- 
cere astrologer,  bent  on  the  exposure  of  such  frauds  as  the  Mer- 
lins of  the  day.  He  prophesied,  incidentally,  that  Partridge 
would  die  on  the  29th  of  March,  at  about  eleven  o'clock  at 
night.  As  soon  as  the  date  was  past  Swift  issued  another 
pamphlet  giving  An  Account  of  Partridge''s  Death  in  very 
pathetic  terms.  The  poor  astrologer  hastened  to  assure  the 
world  that  he  was  still  alive,  upon  which  Swift  promptly  re- 
proved him  in  a  Vindication  of  Isaac  Bickerstaff,  (1709),  and 
in  a  black-letter,  Jlei'lin^s  Prophecy.  Swift  seems  to  have  thrown 
himself  body  and  soul  into  this  ludicrous  and  fantastic  contro- 
versy. ...  It  raged  for  two  years,  and  Partridge  was  reduced 
to  despair  ;  he  lived  on,  however,  until  1715."  — Edmund  Gosse, 
History  of  English  Literature  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  page 
151. 

1.1-4.  The  Tatler.  The  first  number  of  this  paper  was  issued 
April  12,  1709,  and  it  continued  to  be  published  until  January-, 
1711.  In  all  two  hundred  and  seventy-one  numbers  were  issued. 
The  division  of  its  contents  was  announced  by  the  editor  as  fol- 
lows:  "All  accounts  of  gallantry,  pleasure,  and  entertainment 
shall  be  under  the  article  of  White's  Chocolate  House  ;  Poetry 
under  that  of  Will's  Coffee  House  ;  Learning  under  the  title  of 
Grecian  ;  foreign  and  domestic  news  you  will  have  from  St. 
James'  Coffee  House  ;  and  what  else  I  shall  on  any  other  subject 
ofier  shall  be  dated  from  my  own  apartment. ' ' 

Page  76,  line  13.  Temple,  Sir  William,  (1628-1699),  was  an 
eminent  statesman  and  diplomatist,  and  was  the  author  of 
numerous  essays  and  letters.  Johnson  says:  "He*  was  the 
first  writer  who  gave  cadence  to  English  prose." 

1.  17.  Horace  Walpole,  (1717-1797),  was  the  youngest  son  of 
Robert  Walpole,  and  was  noted  for  his  Letters. 


178  NOTES 

1.  24,  Menander,  (342-291  b.c),  was  one  of  the  greatest 
masters  of  Greek  comedy.  Although  he  wrote  more  than  one 
hundred  plays,  not  one  has  come  down  to  us  entire.  Our  whole 
knowledge  of  his  works,  therefore,  rests  upon  fragments  and 
quotations. 

Page  77,  line  1.  Butler,  Samuel,  (1612-1080),  was  the  author 
of  Hudihras^  a  long,  coarse,  but  witty  poem  in  which  the  Puri- 
tan is  held  up  to  ridicule,  which  frequently  passes  into  indecency. 
The  general  design  is  based  upon  that  of  Don  Quixote.  The 
hero  is  a  Presbyterian  Justice  of  the  Peace  who,  "  in  the  confi- 
dence of  legal  authority  and  the  rage  of  zealous  ignorance, 
ranges  the  country  to  repress  superstition  and  current  abuses, 
accompanied  by  an  independent  clerk,  disputatious  and  obsti- 
nate, with  whom  he  often  debates,  but  never  conquers  him." 

1.  3.  Sir  Godfrey  Kneller,  (1648-1723),  was  a  famous  Ger- 
man portrait  painter,  whose  reputation  seems  to  have  exceetled 
his  ability.  He  was  court  painter  to  Charles  II. ,  James  II. ,  and 
William.     He  also  painted  the  portrait  of  Anne. 

1.  17.  Clarendon,  Edward  Hyde,  Earl  of,  (1608-1674),  was  an 
illustrious  statesman  and  author.  He  was  a  prominent  sup- 
porter of  Charles  I.,  and  was  a  companion  of  the  young  prince 
in  his  exile.  His  most  important  literary  work  was  the  History 
of  the  Behellion.  Granger  says  of  him  :  "  He  particularly  ex- 
cels in  characters  which,  if  drawn  with  precision  and  elegance, 
are  as  difficult  to  the  writers  as  they  are  agreeable  to  the  readers 
of  history.  He  is  in  this  particular  as  unrivalled  among  the 
moderns  as  Tacitus  among  the  ancients." 

1.  21.  Cervantes,  (1547-1616),  was  the  greatest  of  Spanish 
authors.  His  most  famous  work  was  Don  Quixote.,  which  has 
been  translated  into  all  the  languages  of  Europe. 


NOTES  179 

Page  78,  line  9.  Voltaire,  (1694-1778),  was  a  French  poet, 
dramatist,  historian,  and  philosopher. 

Page  79,  line  8.  Jack  Pudding  was  a  colloquial  expression 
denoting  a  coarse  or  vulgar  person.  Cynic  was  the  name  of  a 
school  of  Greek  philosophy.  It  has  become  symbolical  of  an 
ignorant  and  insolent  self-righteousness. 

1.  17.  Abbe  Coyer  was  a  French  Jesuit  who  devoted  himself 
to  literature. 

1.20.  Arbuthnot,  John,  M.D.,  (1667-1735),  was- a  noted 
physician  and  writer.  Dr.  Johnson,  in  speaking  of  the  eminent 
authors  who  flourished  in  Queen' Anne's  reign,  says  :  "  I  think 
Dr.  Arbuthnot  the  first  man  among  them.  He  was  the  most 
universal  genius,  being  an  excellent  physician,  a  man  of  deep 
learning,  and  a  man  of  much  humour.  He  joined  with  Pope, 
Gray,  Swift,  and  some  others  to  form  the  Scribblers'  Club, 
whose  object  it  was  to  ridicule  all  the  false  tastes  in  learning, 
under  the  character  of  a  man  of  capacity,  who  had  dipped  into 
every  art  and  science,  but  injudiciously  in  each.  Among  the 
works  produced  by  this  club  were  :  The  First  Book  of  Martinus 
Scribblerus,  by  Arbuthnot ;  GiLlUver''s  Travels,  by  Swift ;  and 
the  Art  of  Linking  in  Poetry,  by  Pope." 

1.  25.  The  World,  Connoisseur,  etc.,  were  contemporary 
papers  of  low  grade  which  the  popularity  of  the  Tatler  and 
Spectator  called  into  existence. 

Page  80,  line  21.  Mephistopheles  was  the  name  of  a  per- 
sonification of  the  principle  of  evil,  first  appearing  in  the 
popular  books  and  puppet  shows  of  the  middle  ages.  Mephis- 
topheles is  the  Satanic  tempter  of  Faust  in  Goethe's  Faust^ 
and  in  Marlowe's  drama  of  the  same  name,  both  of  which  the 
student  should  read. 


180  NOTES 

1.  22.  Puck,  an  elf  or  sprite.  See  Midsiimmer  Night's 
Bream. 

I.  22.  Soame  Jenyns,  (1704-1787),  was  a  poet  and  wit.  chiefly 
remembered  for  his  View  of  the  Internal  Evidence  of  the 
Christian  Beligion. 

II.  21,  22.  Bettesworth,  Franc  de  Pompignan,  respectively 
were- victims  of  the  satire  of  Swift  and  Voltaire. 

Page  82,  line  8.  Jeremy  Collier,  (1650-1726),  was  an  English 
bishop  of  great  celebrity.  In  1698  he  published  a  Short  Vieio  of 
the  Immorality  and  Profanene$s  of  the  English  Stage,  which  was 
an  epoch-making  book  and  effected  a  complete  revolution  in 
public  opinion  regarding  the  stage.  For  a  powerful  picture  of 
the  morals  of  the  times,  see  the  Essay  on  Milton,  page  70. 

1.  10.  Etherege,  Sir  George,  (1635-1691),  and  Wycherley, 
William,  (1640-1715),  were  both  writers  of  immoral  and  licen- 
tious dramas. 

1.  17.  Hale,  Sir  Matthew,  (1609-1676),  was  an  eminent 
lawyer  and  writer.     Cowper  says  of  him  : 

*'  Immortal  Hale !  for  deep  discernment  praised, 
And  sound  integrity,  not  more  than  famed 
For  sanctity  of  manners  undefiled." 

—  The  Task,  Bk.  in. 

1.  17.     Tillotson.     See  sketch  in  Macaulay's  Miscellaneous 


1.  20.  Vanbnigh,  Sir  John  (1666-1726),  was  distinguished 
both  as  an  architect  and  a  dramatic  writer.  His  plays  were 
nearly  all  comedies. 

Page  83,  lines  8-11.  These  references  are  all  to  the  Tatler, 
and  should  be  looked  up. 


NOTES  '  181 

"  Tom  Folio  is  a  broker  in  learning,  employed  to  get  together 
good  editions  and  to  stock  the  libraries  of  great  men."  —  Tatler^ 
No.  158. 

"Ned  Softly,  a  very  pretty  poet,  and  an  admirer  of  easy 
lines."  —  Taller,  No.  163. 

"Political  Upholsterer,  a  great  news-monger. "— Ta^er, 
Nos.  155  and  IGO. 

Court  of  Honor.  —  Taller,  Nos.  250,  253,  256,  259,  262,  and 
265. 

Memoirs  of  a  Shilling.  —  Taller,  No.  249. 

Frozen  Words.  —  Taller,  No.  254. 

Thermometer  of  Zeal.  —  Taller,  No.  220. 

1.  14.    The  reference  is  possibly  to  Taller,  No.  257! 

1.  17.  Smalridge,  George,  D.D.,  (1663-1719),  was  Dean  of 
Christ  Church,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Bristol.  He  was 
noted  as  an  eloquent  preacher. 

Page  84,  line  5.  Macaulay  largely  overestimates  the  value  of 
Addison's  work  on  the  Taller.  Unprejudiced  readers  will  find 
there  much  from  the  pen  of  Steele  which  is  nearly  or  quite  as 
good  as  much  of  that  contributed  by  Addison.  The  Taller  was 
exceedingly  popular  throughout  the  entire  series,  yet  Addison 
contributed  op.ly  forty-two  numbers,  while  Steele  wrote  one 
hundred  and  eighty-eight,  and  thirty-six  were  written  con- 
jointly. 

1.  12.  By  the  Act  of  Settlement  in  1689,  Anne  was  recog- 
nized as  the  legitimate  successor  of  William  of  Orange,  should 
he  outlive  his  wife,  Mary,  who  was  the  eldest  daughter  of  James 
II.  Anne  was  the  second  daughter  of  this  king.  After  the 
death  of  the  mother  of  these  princesses  James  married  again, 


182  ♦  2T0TF,S 

and  had  a  son,  named  James  Francis  Edward,  who,  upon  the 
death  of  his  father,  claimed  the  throne  as  liis  by  right.  A  Ithough 
he  had  a  strong  following  in  England,  his  claim  was  not  recognized, 
and  he  was  compelled  to  live  in  exile  at  the  court  of  the  king  of 
France,  who  became  his  champion.  If  the  French  had  conquered 
in  the  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession,  they  would  undoubtedly 
have  attempted  to  seat  the  "Pretender"  upon  the  English 
throne. 

1.  20.  In  1820,  and  in  1831.  The  agitation  in  behalf  of 
Parliamentary  reform. 

Page  85,  line  4.  Versailles  was  a  suburban  village,  eleven 
miles  from  Paris,  where  Louis  XIV.  erected  a  magnificent 
palace,  which  was  used  by  the  French  kings  as  a  residence 
until  1792.  It  also  contained  one  of  the  finest  parks  in  the 
world. 

1.  5.  Marli  was  located  five  miles  north  of  Versailles,  and 
contained  the  country  house  and  gardens  of  Louis  XIV. 

1.  6.  St.  James  Palace  was  a  residence  of  the  British 
sovereigns. 

1.  15.  White  staff.  The  emblem  of  the  office  of  Lord  High 
Treasurer. 

Page  86,  line  21.  Walcheren  was  a  small  island  off  the  shore 
of  the  Netherlands.  It  is  famous  in  military  history  for  an 
expedition  undertaken  by  the  British  in  1809  against  Antwerp. 
The  leaders  were  incompetent,  necessary  supplies  were  not 
provided,  and  the  expedition  failed  disastrously.  Over  7,000 
men  lost  their  lives  on  this  island. 

Page  88,  line  11.  The  Examiner.  During  the  election 
Addison  contributed  five  numbers  to  this  paper,  which  was 
set  up  in  opposition  to  a  Tory  paper  of  the  same  name. 


NOTES  '  183 

Page  90,  line  5.  The  Spectator  was  issued  daily  from  March 
1,  1711,  until  December  6,  1712,  It  consisted  of  five  hundred 
and  fifty -five  numbers,  of  which  Addison  wrote  two  hundred 
and  seventy-four,  Steele  two  hundred  and  thirty-six,  Hughea 
nineteen,  and  Pope  one.     Eighty  numbers  were  added  in  1714. 

Page  91,  line  17.  Richardson,  Samuel,  (1689-1761),  was  the 
first  of  the  modern  English  novelists.  He  worked  as  a  printer 
until  he  was  fifty  years  of  age.  He  then  published  Pamela, 
and  later  Clarissa  Harlowe  and  Sir  Charles  Grandison.  He 
has  been  called  -'the  inventor  of  the  English  novel." 

1.  18.  Smollett,  Tobias  George,  (1721-1771),  was  the  third 
novelist  of  this  epoch.  Among  his  works  are  Boderick  Ban- 
dom  and  Humphrey  Clinker. 

Page  92,  line  3.  Mohawks,  or  Mohocks,  were  a  class  of 
ruffians  who  at  one  time  infested  the  streets  of  London.  One 
of  their  diversions  was  to  roll  hapless  passers  down  Snow  Hill 
i:j.  a  tub  ;  another  was  to  overturn  coaches  on  rubbish  heaps. 

1.  5.  The  Distressed  Mother  was  a  tragedy  written  by  Am- 
brose Phillips,  which  was  little  more  than  a  free  translation  of 
Racine's  Andromaque.  It  contained  an  epilogue  written  by 
Addison. 

1.  9.  All  these  personages  are  characters  in  the  Sir  Roger 
de  Coverley  Papers. 

Page  93,  line  10.  nabob  was  originally  the  viceroy  or  gov- 
ernor of  a  province  in  India.  Later  many  of  the  nabobs  be- 
came independent  mouarchs. 

1.  14.  Lucian,  who  lived  in  the  second  century  a.d.,  was  a 
Greek  wit,  essayist,  and  satirist. 

1.  16.    Tales  of  Scheherazade  :  the  Arabian  Nights. 


184  NOTES 

1.  18.  La  BruySre,  Jean  de,  (1645-1696),  was  a  distinguished 
French  writer  and  moralist.  According  to  some  critics  he  is 
the  greatest  painter  of  manners  and  morals  who  has  ever  writ- 
ten in  French. 

1.  24.  Massillon,  Jean  Baptiste,  (1663-1742),  was  a  noted 
French  pulpit  orator,  whose  sermons  are  models  of  artistic 
beauty  and  are  more  largely  concerned  with  morals  and  mo- 
tives than  with  dogmas  and  doctrines. 

Page  95,  line  2.  Chevy  Chace  was  one  of  the  most  famous 
of  early  English  ballads.  It  takes  for  its  subject  matter  an 
affray  between  Lord  Percy  and  the  Douglas  on  the  Scottish 
border. 

1.  8.  Upon  the  imposition  of  the  tax,  which  was  a  duty  laid 
upon  newspapers,  in  the  shape  of  a  red  stamp,  the  Spectator 
doubled  its  price  and  said,  "This  is  the  day  on  which  many 
eminent  writers  will  probably  publish  their  last  works.  I  am 
afraid  that  few  of  our  weekly  historians,  who  are  men  that, 
above  others,  delight  in  war,  will  be  able  to  subsist  under  the 
weight  of  a  stamp  and  approaching  peace."  This  act  continued 
in  force  for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half. 

Page  96,  line  13.  The  Guardian  began  to  appear  March  12, 
1713,  and  ran  through  one  hundred  and  seventy-six  numbers, 
the  last  appearing  October  1,  1713.  Steele  wrote  eighty-two 
numbers,  and  other  contributors  were  Addison,  Berkeley,  Pope, 
Hughes,  etc.  It  was  during  the  publication  of  the  Guardian 
that  Steele  and  Addison  became  finally  estranged. 

Macaulay  in  his  zeal  for  Addison  has  probably  drawn  the 
contrast  far  too  strongly.  It  will  be  interesting  to  read  in  this 
connection  Johnson's  summary  of  the  relations  existing  be- 
tween these  two  distinguished  men  : 


NO TES  185 

"At  the  school  of  the  Chartreux,  to  which  he  (Addison) 
was  removed,  he  pursued  his  juvenile  studies  under  the  care 
of  Dr.  Ellis,  and  contracted  that  intimacy  with  Sir  Richard 
Steele  which  their  joint  labors  have  so  effectually  recorded. 

"Of  this  memorable  friendship  the  greater  praise  must  be 
::iven  to  Steele.  It  is  not  hard  to  love  those  from  whom  noth- 
ing can  be  feared ;  and  Addison  never  considered  Steele  as  a 
rival ;  but  Steele  lived,  as  he  confesses,  under  an  habitual 
subjection  to  the  predominating  genius  of  Addison,  whom  he 
always  mentioned  with  reverence  and  treated  with  obsequi- 
oiLsness. 

"Addison,  who  knew  his  own  dignity,  could  not  always  for- 
bear to  show  it  by  playing  a  little  upon  his  admirer ;  but  he  was 
in  no  danger  of  retort ;  his  jests  were  endured  without  resist- 
ance or  resentment.  But  the  sneer  of  jocularity  was  not  the 
worst.  Steele,  whose  imprudence  of  generosity,  or  vanity  of 
profusion,  kept  him  always  incurably  necessitous,  upon  some 
pressing  exigence,  in  an  evil  hour  borrowed  a  hundred  pounds 
of  his  friend,  probably  without  much  purpose  of  repayment, 
but  Addison,  who  seems  to  have  had  other  notions  of  a  hun- 
dred pounds,  grew  impatient  of  delay,  and  reclaimed  his  loan 
by  an  execution.  Steele  felt  with  great  sensibility  the  ob- 
duracy of  his  creditor,  but  with  emotions  of  sorrow  rather 
than  of  anger.'' 

The  following  passage  from  the  "Dedication  of  the  Drum- 
mer," written  by  Steele,  is  also  significant : 

"All  the  papers  marked  with  a  C,  L.,  I.,  or  0.,  that  is  to 
say,  all  the  papers  which  I  have  distinguished  by  any  letter  in 
the  name  of  the  muse  Clio,  were  given  me  by  the  gentleman 
of  whose  assistance  I  formerly  boasted  in  the  preface  and  con- 
cluding leaf  of  the  Tatler.  I  am  much  more  proud  of  his 
long-continued  friendship  than  I  should  be  of  the  fame  of 


186  NOTES 

being  thought  the  author  of  any  writings  of  which  he  himself 
is  capable  of  producing." 

Page  97,  line  3.  Cato.  Tickell  says  :  "  He  took  up  a  design 
of  writing  a  play  upon  this  subject  when  he  was  at  the  uni- 
versity, and  even  attempted  something  in  it  then,  though  not  a 
line  as  it  now  stands.  The  work  was  performed  by  him  in  his 
travels,  and  retouched  in  England,  without  any  formed  de- 
sign of  bringing  it  out  upon  the  stage." 

Page  98,  line  1.  Macready,  William  Charles,  (1793-1873), 
was  one  of  the  last  great  Shakespearian  actors,  and  was  ranked 
as  one  of  the  most  illustrious  of  his  profession. 

1.  3.  Cato,  Sempronius,  Juba,  and  Marcia  were  all  historic 
characters. 

1.  7.  Booth,  Barton,  (1681-1733),  was  a  prominent  actor,  a 
good  classical  schcrtar,  and  a  poet  of  some  renown. 

1.  11.  Sir  Gilbert  Heathcote  was  a  wealthy  merchant  and  a 
stanch  Whig. 

Page  99,  line  12.     Sir  Gibby  refers  to  Heathcote. 

1.  24.  Garth,  Sir  Samuel,  (1660-1719),  was  a  poet  and  phy- 
sician.    He  was  a. prominent  member  of  the  Kit  Cat  Club. 

Page  100,  line  11.  Dictator.  Marlborough  was  at  that  time 
suspected  of  an  ambitious  aim  to  obtain  the  post  of  general-in- 
chief  for  life. 

1.  22.  the  Act  at  Oxford.  In  English  universities  an  act  is 
an  exercise,  such  as  the  thesis  publicly  maintained,  performed 
by  a  student  before  he  receives  a  degree.  Here  reference  is 
made  to  the  time  at  which  the  theses  were  discussed  and  the 
degrees  were  given,  corresponding,  to  some  extent,  to  our  Com- 
mencement season.     (See  Murray'' s  Dictionary^  under  "  Act.") 


NOTES  187 

'  Page  101,  line  8.  Schiller,  (1759-1806),  was  a  German  his- 
torian, dramatist,  and  poet.  Among  his  greatest  works  are  a 
History  of  the  Thirty  Years''  War,  WallenitUn,  Marie  Stuart, 
William  Tell,  and  the  Jlaid  of  Orleans.  Next  to  Goethe,  he 
ranks  as  Germany's  greatest  poet. 

11.  11-12.  Athalie,  by  Racine.  Saul,  by  Alfieri,  an  Italian 
jjoet.     Cinna,  by  Corneilie,  a  French  dramatist. 

1.  25.  John  Dennis,  (1657-1734),  was  a  dramatic  and  polit- 
ical writer  and  critic.  He  criticised  Pope's  Essay  on  Criticism, 
but  not  as  severely  as  the  Cato.  In  return  Pope  held  him  up 
to  ridicule  in  the  Dunciad.  However  much  Macaulay  may 
have  exaggerated  Pope's  failings,  he  certainly  did  not  possess 
Addison's  gentle  and  forgiving  spirit. 

Page  104,  line  1.  the  lampoon  on  Atticus  was  first  printed 
in  1723,  then  included  by  Pope  in  his  Miscellanies  in  1727,  and 
finally,  after  undergoing  revision,  was  engrafted  into  the  Epis- 
tle to  Arbuthnot,  and  published  in  1735.  In  its  first  printed 
form  it  was  as  follows : 

"  If  Dennis  writes  and  rails  in  furious  pet, 

I'll  answer  D when  I  am  in  debt. 

If  meager  Gildon  draws  his  meager  quill, 
I  wish  the  man  a  dinner  and  sit  still. 
But  should  there  one  whose  better  stars  conspire 
To  form  a  bard  and  raise  a  genius  higher, 
Blest  with  each  talent  and  each  art  to  please, 
And  born  to  live,  converse,  and  write  with  ease ; 
Should  such  a  one,  resolved  to  reign  alone, 
Bear,  like  the  Turk,  no  brother  near  the  throne, 
View  him  with  jealous,  yet  with  scornful  eyes; 
Hate  him  for  arts  that  caused  himself  to  rise, 
Damn  with  faint  praise,  assent  with  civil  leer, 
And  without  sneer  teach  the  rest  to  sneer, 


188  NOTES 

Alike  reserved  to  blame  or  to  commend, 
A  timorous  foe  and  a  suspicious  friend, 
Fearing  ev'n  fools,  by  flatterers  besieged, 
And  so  obliging  tbat  he  ne'er  obliged ; 
Willing  to  wound,  yet  afraid  to  strike, 
Just  hit  the  fault  and  hesitate  dislike. 
Who,  when  two  wits  on  rival  themes  contest, 
Approves  of  both,  but  likes  the  w^orse  the  best: 
Like  Cato  gives  his  little  senate  laws, 
And  sits  attentive  to  his  own  applause ; 
While  wits  and  templars  every  sentence  raise, 
And  wonder  with  a  foolish  face  of  praise. 
Who  would  not  laugh  if  such  a  man  there  be? 
Who  would  not  laugh  if  Atticus  w^ere  he?  " 

1.  1.  Sporus.  In  Pope's  Epistle  to  Dr.  Arhuthnot  this 
name  was  used  for  Lord  John  Hervey,  the  son  of  the  Earl  of 
Bristol,  to  whom  Pope  made  several  slighting  allusions  in  his 
Miscellanies  and  the  Danciad,  for  what  reason  is  not  knovm. 
In  1734  appeared  the  Imitation  of  the  First  Book  of  Horace, 
where  Lord  Henry  was  twice  attacked  under  the  sobriquet  of 
"Lord  Fanny,"  and  his  friend  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montague 
was  still  more  scandalously  aspersed.  The  Character  of  Sporus 
followed  soon  after,  and  he  was  again  attacked  in  a  subsequent 
work. 

1.  11.  peripetia :  the  sudden  disclosure  of  circumstances 
upon  which  the  plot  of  the  play  hinges. 

Page  106,  line  3.  The  Englishman  was  a  continuation  of 
the  Guardian.  It  was  published  through  fifty-seven  numbers, 
and  was  mainly  political.  Steele  was  expelled  from  the  House 
on  account  of  certain  "scandalous  and  seditious  libels"  which 
were  published  in  this  paper. 


NOTES  189 

Page  108,  line  4.  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  (1765-1832),  was 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  modern  philosophers. 

1.  20.  Lord  John  Russell,  (1792-1878),  was  an  influential 
Whig  statesman.  He  was  prime  minister  from  184G  to  1852, 
and  again  from  1865  to  1806. 

1.  20.  Sir  Robert  Peel,  (1788-1850),  was  one  of  the  leading 
statesmen  of  the  present  century,  first  a  Tory  axid  then  a  Whig. 
He  was  prime  minister  from  1841  to  1846. 

1.  20.  Lord  Palmerston,  (1784-1865),  was  another  prominent 
statesman  of  the  Liberal  party.  He  was  prime  minister  from 
1855  to  1858,  and  again  from  1859  to  1865.  These  three  men 
were  among  the  most  noted  figures  in  the  political  world  in 
Macaulay's  time. 

Page  109,  line  14.  Sunderland,  Charles  Spencer,  third  Earl 
of,  (1674-1722),  was  highly  honored  by  George  I.,  who  made 
him  successively  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  Lord  Privy  Seal, 
and  Prime  Minister. 

Page  110,  line  17.  the  Tale  of  a  Tub  is  a  powerful  satire  on 
the  superstitions,  fanaticism,  and  abuses  of  the  times.  It  proved 
a  serious  hindrance  to  its  author's  advancement  in  both  religious 
and  political  circles. 

Page  111,  lines  12-15. 

"  And  let  us  in  the  tumult  of  the  fray 
Avoid  each  other's  spears,  for  there  will  he 
Of  Trojans  and  their  renowned  allies 
Enough  for  me  to  slay  whene'er  a  god 
Shall  bring  them  in  my  way. 

In  turn  for  thee 
Are  many  Greeks  to  smite  whomever  thou  and  I 
Canst  overcome." 

Iliad,  VI.,  226-229.     Bryant's  Trans. 


190  NOTES 

Page  113,  line  6.  the  Board  of  Trade  in  England  is  a  branch 
of  the  government  which  deals  with  commerce  and  statistics. 

1.  17.  the  Rebellion  was  a  rising  of  the  Jacobites,  under  the 
leadership  of  the  Earl  of  Mar,  who  was  defeated  and  the  insur- 
rection was  put  down  by  the  Duke  of  Argyle. 

1.  18.  The  Freeholder  was  first  issued  in  1715,  and  continued 
through  fifty-five  numbers  to  June,  1716.  This  paper  was  de- 
voted almost  exclusively  to  the  discussion  of  political  questions. 

Page  115,  line  2.  Town  Talk  ran  from  December  17,  1714, , 
to  February  13,  1716.  The  Reader  appeared  in  1714,  but  only 
nine  numbers  were  issued.  The  Letter  to  a  Bailiff  was  pub- 
lished in  1713,  and  the  Crisis  in  1714.  It  is  hardly  necessary 
to  call  attention  to  Macaulay's  spirit  of  partisanship  as  dis- 
played in  this  sentence. 

1.  19.  Rosicrucians  were  a  secret  society  reported  to 
have  been  founded  in  the  fourteenth  century  by  Christian 
Kosenkreuz,  who  had  resided  for  many  years  among  Arabian 
and  Egyptian  magicians.  Wonderful  stories  are  told  about  the 
magical  deeds  wrought  by  the  Rosicrucians  and  the  strange 
spirits  who  did  their  bidding,  some  of  whom  are  named  in  the 
text.  It  seems  to  be  quite  certain,  however,  that  no  such 
society  ever  existed  and  that  the  whole  story  was  simply  a 
satire. 

Page  116,  line  23.  Akenside,  Mark,  (1721-1770),  was  a 
physician  and  poet.  Bucke  says  of  the  poem  referred  to,  "he 
has  united  the  grace  of  Vergil,  the  colouring  of  Milton,  the 
incidental  expression  of  Shakespeare,  to  paint  the  finest  feat- 
ures of  the  human  mind  and  the  most  lovely  forms  of  morality 
and  religion." 


NOTES  191 

Page  117,  line  10.  Herder,  Johann  Gottfried,  (1744-1803), 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  modern  German  literature.  He 
was  Goethe's  friend  and  teacher. 

1.  10.  Goethe,  Johann  Wolfgang,  (1749-1832),  was  the  great- 
est of  German  poets  and  authors.  Among  his  works  are  :  Wil- 
hebn  Meister,  Faust,  Hermann  and  Dorothea,  and  Tasso. 

1.  11.  Hume.  David,  (1711-1776),  was  the  most  noted  of 
modern  skeptical  philosophers,  and  a  distinguished  essayist  and 
historian. 

Page  122,  lines  1-2.  The  Satirist  and  the  Age  were  low- 
lived publications  of  that  day. 

1.  13.  In  an  epistle  to  the  Earl  of  Burlington,  published  in 
1731,  and  entitled,  Of  the  Use  of  Biches,  he  gave  a  description 
of  Simon's  Villa,  designed  to  illustrate  the  false  taste  of  mag- 
nificence, in  which  he  was  accused  of  attacking  a  benefactor  by 
ridiculing  the  house,  grounds,  and  ostentatious  hospitality  of  the 
Duke  of  Chandos. 

1.  15.  Aaron  Hill  was  a  dramatic  waiter  of  some  celebrity, 
though  without  much  merit.  In  the  treatise  on  Bathos  Pope 
classed  him  with  the  geniuses  called  "Flying  Fishes,  who  now 
and  then  rise  on  their  fins  and  fly  out  of  the  profound  :  but  their 
wings  are  soon  dry  and  they  drop  down  to  the  bottom." 

1.  17.  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montague  was  sarcastically 
alluded  to  in  the  Dunciad,  Bk.  II.,  1.  135. 

Page  123,  line  8.  gross  perfidy  to  Bolingbroke.  Pope  is 
accused  of  a  serious  breach  of  trust  in  this  case,  in  printing 
certain  letters  of  Bolingbroke 's. 

Page  124,  line  12.  Earl  of  Warwick  was  the  son  of  the 
Countess  of  Warwick,  whom  Addison  afterwards  married. 


192  NOTES 

Page  125,  line  18.  Sir  Peter  Teazle  and  Joseph  Surface  are 
characters  in  Sheridan's  School  for  Scandal. 

Page  126,  line  24.  The  Countess  Dowager  was  the  head  of 
the  house  which  was  descended  from  the  famous  Richard 
Neville,  Earl  of  Warwick,  who  made  and  deposed  kings  during 
the  Wars  of  the  Roses.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas 
Middleton. 

Page  127,  line  2,  Holland  House  is  a  picturesque  Elizabethan 
mansion  near  London.  It  was  built  in  1607  and  descended  to 
Henry  Rich,  first  Earl  of  Holland,  for  whom  it  was  named. 
For  nearly  two  centuries  and  a  half  it  was  the  favorite  resort  of 
wits  and  beauties,  of  painters  and  poets,  of  scholars,  philoso- 
phers, and  statesmen. 

1.  4.  Nell  Gwynn  was  an  actress,  born  in  London  about 
1650.     She  was  a  favorite  of  Charles  II. 

Page  128,  line  6.  Lycidas.  The  reference  is  to  Milton's 
memorial  poem,  which  was  written  upon  the  death  of  his  friend, 
Edward  Iving,  who  was  drowned  in  St.  George's  Channel,  in 
1637. 

1.  16.  William  Somerville,  (1675-1742),  made  his  literary 
reputation  by  a  long  poem  entitled  llie  Chase. 

Page  130,  line  9.  Joseph  Hume,  (1777-1855),  was  a  political 
reformer,  who,  as  a  member  of  Parliament,  sought  to  check 
unnecessary  expenditures,  and  to  secure  the  passage  of  measures 
favorable  to  the  working  classes. 

Page  131,  line  11.  House  of  Rich.  Holland  House  was  so 
called  because  the  family  name  of  its  founder  was  Rich.  Many 
anecdotes  are  on  record  relating  to  Addison's  tavern  resorts 
when  Holland  House  was  rendered  disagreeable  by  the  haughty 


NOTES  193 

caprices  of  his  aristocratic  bride.  Wlien  he  had  suffered  any 
vexation  from  her  he  would  propose  to  withdraw  the  club  from 
Button's,  who  had  been  a  servant  in  the  countess's  family. 

Page  134,  line  4.  The  Plebeian.  1.  7.  The  Old  Whig.  In 
1718  a  bill  was  introduced  into  Parliament  proposing  to  tix  the 
number  of  peers,  and  restraining  the  king  from  any  new  creation 
of  nobility.  This  bill  was  the  cause  of  much  acrimonious  dis- 
cussion, in  the  course  of  which  Steele  attacked  it  bitterly  in  a 
pamphlet  called  The  Plebeian,  which  was  answered  in  a  pam- 
phlet called  the  Old  Whig,  by  Addison.  Steele  replied  in  a 
second  Plebeian,  which  was  followed  by  another  Old  miig.  In 
all  there  were  four  issues  of  the  former  and  two  of  the  latter. 

Page  135,  line  2.  "Little  Dicky."  This  matter  is  referred 
to  by  Macaulay  in  a  letter  written  to  the  editor  of  the  Edinburgh 
Peview,  July  22,  1843,  as  follows: 

"  I  hear  generally  favorable  opinions  about  my  article.  I  am 
much  pleased  with  one  thing:  You  may  remember  how  con- 
fidently I  asserted  that  '  little  Dicky  '  in  the  Old  Wliig  was  the 
nickname  of  some  comic  actor.  Several  people  thought  I  risked 
too  much  in  assuming  this  so  strongly  on  mere  internal  evidence. 
I  have  now,  by  an  odd  accident,  found  out  who  the  actor  was. 
An  old  prompter  in  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  named  Chetwood, 
published,  in  1749,  a  small  volume  containing  an  account  of  all 
the  famous  performers  whom  he  remembers,  arranged  in  alpha- 
betical order.  This  little  volume  I  picked  up  yesterday,  for  a 
sixpence,  at  a  bookstore  in  Holborn,  and  the  first  name  on  wfiich 
I  opened  was  that  of  Henry  Xorris,  a  favorite  comedian,  who 
was  nicknamed  '  Dicky,'  because  he  first  obtained  celebrity  by 
acting  the  part  of  'Dicky'  in  the  Trip  to  the  Jubilee.  ...  I 
am  a  little  vain  of  my  sagacity,  which  I  really  think  would  have 
dubbed  me  a  '-vir  clarissimus^  if  it  had  been  shown  in  a  point 
o 


194  NOTES 

of  Greek  or  Latin  learning  ;  but  I  am  still  more  pleased  that  the 
vindication  of  Addison  from  an  unjust  charge,  which  has  been 
universally  believed  since  the  publication  of  the  Lives  of  the 
Foets,  should  thus  be  complete.  Should  you  have  any  objection 
to  inserting  a  short  note  at  the  end  of  the  next  number  ?  Ten 
lines  would  suffice,  and  the  matter  is  really  interesting  to  all 
lovers  of  literary  history." 

The  note  was  inserted  in  the  Edinburgh  Beview,  Vol.  CLVIII., 
Ch.  VIII.,  550,  as  follows  : 

"  In  our  review  of  Miss  Aiken's  Life  of  Addison  we  remarked 
that  the  'little  Dicky'  mentioned  in  the  Old  Whig  could  not 
possibly  be  Sir  Kichard  Steele.  We  expressed  our  opinion  that, 
in  all  probability,  '  little  Dicky '  was  the  nickname  of  some 
comic  actor  who  played  the  part  of  Gomez  in  Dryden's  Spanish 
Friar. 

"  We  have  since  ascertained  that  our  conjecture  was  correct. 
The  performer  to  whom  Addison  alluded  was  Henry  Norris,  a 
man  of  remarkably  small  stature,  but  of  great  native  humour, 
whose  strength  lay  in  such  characters  as  that  of  Gomez.  Norris 
had  greatly  distinguished  himself  by  his  ludicrous  performance 
of  the  part  of  Dicky,  the  serving  man,  in  Farquhar''s  Trip  to  the 
Jubilee,  and  had  thus  earned  the  nickname  of  'little  Dicky.' 
He  was  at  the  height  of  his  popularity  in  the  year  1719,  when 
the  Old  Whig  appeared.  An  account  of  him  will  be  found  in 
the  General  History  of  the  Stage,  published  about  a  century 
ago  by  one  Chetwood,  who  had  been,  during  twenty  years, 
prompter  at  Drury  Lane  Theatre." 

1.  10.  The  Duenna  was  a  play  written  by  Sheridan  and  first 
produced  in  1775. 

Page  137,  line  5.     Gay,  John,  (1685-1732),  was  a  poet  and 


NOTES  195 

play- writer.    He  had  considerable  merit  as  a  poet,  but  as  a  man 
was  indolent  and  irresolute,  though  amiable. 

Page  139,  line  20.  Jerusalem  Chamber  was  an  apartment  in 
the  cloisters  of  Westminster  Abbey,  where  Henry  IV.  is  said  to 
have  been  buried.  It  derived  its  name  from  the  fact  that  it  was 
hung  with  tapestries  representing  the  history  of  Jerusalem, 

1.  21.  the  Abbey.  "Westminster  Abbey,  as  it  now  exists, 
was  rebuilt  on  the  site  of  an  older  abbey,  built  by  Edward  the 
Confessor  in  1245,  by  Henry  III.  It  is  shaped  like  a  cros.s  and 
contains,  besides  nave,  choir,  and  transepts,  twelve  chapels,  of 
which  ten  are  nearly  filled  with  monumental  tombs.  Seventeen 
English  kings  and  ten  queens  lie  within  the  Abbey  amid  states- 
men, poets,  divines,  scholars,  and  artists.  Dean  Stanley  says : 
''The  Abbey  of  "Westminster  owes  its  traditions  and  its  present 
name,  revered  in  the  bosoms  of  the  people  of  England,  to  the 
fact  that  the  early  English  kings  were  interred  within  its  walls 
and  that  through  its  associations  the  Norman  rulers  learnt  to 
forget  their  foreign  paternity  and  to  unite  in  fellowship  and 
affection  with  their  vSaxon  fellow-citizens.  There  is  no  other 
church  in  the  world,  except,  perhaps,  the  Kremlin  in  Moscow, 
with  which  royalty  is  so  intimately  associated." 


INDEX  TO.  NOTES 


Aaron  Hill,  191. 

Abbe  Coyer,  179, 

Abbey,  The,  195. 

Aberdeen,  173. 

Absalom  and  Ahitophel,  159. 

Academy,  The,  158. 

Act  at  Oxford,  186. 

Act  of  Settlement,  167,  181. 

"  After  his  bees,"  155. 

Agbarus,  150. 

Age,  191. 

Ambrose  Phillips,  175. 

Antrim,  17.3. 

Ariosto,  169. 

Athalie,  187. 

Atticus,  149.  ' 

Ausonius,  148. 

Barometer,  Lines  on,  151. 
Bayle,  176. 
Bentinck,  172. 
Bentley,  150. 
Berni,  169. 
Bettesworth,  180. 
Bickerstaff,  176. 
Biographia  Britannica,  145. 


Blackmore,  150. 

Blair,  Dr.,  145. 

Blenheim,  167. 

Blois,  157. 

Board  of  Trade,  190. 

Boccaccio,  169. 

Boiardo,  169. 

Boileau,  157. 

Book  of  Gold,  162. 

Booth,  186. 

Boswell,  175. 

''  Both  the  great  chiefs  of  the 

ministry,"  156. 
Bowling  Green,  Lines  on,  151. 
Bourne,  Vincent,  160. 
Boyle,  150. 
Boyne  River,  168. 
Bradamante,  144. 
Brunell,  154. 
Buchanan,  George,  148. 
Budgell,  175. 
Butler,  178. 
Button's,  145,  152. 

Callimachus,  149. 
Canning,  Mr.,  166. 
197 


108 


INDEX  TO  NOTES 


Capreae,  163. 

Captain    General   Marlborough, 

165. 
Cato,  186. 
Catullus,  U7. 

Censorship  of  the  Press,  172. 
Cervantes,  178. 
Chancellor,  His,  147. 
Charter  House,  146. 
Chatham,  172. 
Chevy  Chace,  184. 
Childs,  152. 
Cinna,  187. 
Clarendpn,  178. 
Claudian,  147. 
Cock-Lane  Ghost,  149. 
Coffee-Houses,  151. 
Conduct  of  the  Allies,  173. 
Congreve,  144,  152. 
Connoisseur,  The,  179. 
Countess  Dowager,  192. 
Court  of  Honor,  181. 
Cowper,  William,  166. 
Craftsman,  The,  173. 
Crisis,  The,  190. 

Dacier,  156. 

Dante,  169. 

Dauphin,  161. 

Demies,  147. 

Dictator,  186. 

Dissenters,  165. 

Dissertation  on  the  Epistles  of 

Phalaris,  151. 
Distressed  Mother,  The,  183. 


Dr.  Arne,  170. 

Dorset,  155. 

Dryden,  152. 

Duchess  of  Marlborough,  171. 

Duenna,  The,  194. 

Duke,  154. 

Duke  of  Shrewsbury,  164. 

Dunkirk,  146. 

Earl  of  Nottingham,  166. 
Electoral  Prince  of  Hanover,  171. 
Elegiacs,  160. 
Empress  Faustina,  169. 
Euglisliman,  The,  188.  • 

Epistles  of  Phalaris,  151. 
Erasmus,  159. 
Etherege,  180. 
Examiner,  The,  182. 

Faithless  Ruler  of  Savoy,  165. 

Ferrara,  169. 

Fielding,  176. 

Fiercer  Conflict,  164. 

Fox,  172. 

Fracastorius,  159. 

Francesca  da  Rimini,  170. 

Franchises,  144. 

Freeholder,  The,  163,  173,  190. 

Frozen  Words,  181. 

Garraway's,  152. 

Garth,  186. 

Gay,  194. 

Gazetteer,  176. 

Genoa,  162. 

Gerano-Pygmseomachia,  160. 


INDEX  TO  NOTES 


199 


Gilbert  Heatlicote,  Sir,  18G. 

Godfrey  Kueller,  Sir,  178. 

Godolphin,  Kio. 

Goethe,  191. 

Grand  Alliance,  165. 

Granville,  155. 

Gray,  Thomas,  160. 

Grecian,  The,  152. 

Gross  Perfidy  to  Bolingbroke,  191. 

Grub  Street,  173. 

Guardian,  181. 

Hale,  180. 

Halifax,  166. 

Hampton  Court,  145. 

Harley,  171. 

Herder,  191. 

Heroic  Couplet,  153. 

Hobbes,  158. 

Holland  House,  192. 

Holy  Week,  163. 

Hoole,  154. 

Horace  AValpole,  177. 

Horace,  149. 

"Hot  and  sickly  months,"  164. 

House  of  Rich,  192. 

Hume,  191. 

Hurd,  175. 

Hymn,  161. 

Infanta,  146. 

Ireland's  Vortigern,  150. 

Italicus,  Silius,  148. 

Jack  Pudding,  179. 
Jacobitism,  163. 


'  James  Mcintosh,  Sir,  189. 

;  Jeremy  Collier,  180. 

'  Jerusalem  Chamber,  195. 

John  Dennis,  187. 

John  Philips,  168. 

John  Russell,  Lord,  189. 

Johnson's,  Dr.,  tragedy,  145. 

Jonathan's,  152. 

Jonson,  Ben,  153. 

Joseph  Hume,  192. 

Joseph  Surface,  192. 

Juba,  186. 

Juvenal,  149. 

• 

Kit  Cat  Club,  156. 
Knight,  144. 

La  Bruyere,  184. 
Lake  Benacus,  162. 
Lampoon  on  Atticus,  187. 
Laputan  Flapper,  144. 
Lessing,  159. 
Letter  to  a  Bailiff,  190. 
Lifeguardsman  Sha-^,  167. 
Little  Dicky,  193. 
lA\j,  148. 
Lord  Eldon,  166. 
Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  169. 
Lucan,  149. 
Luc  i  an,  183. 
Lucretius,  147. 
Lycidas,  192. 

Machiavelli,  169. 
Machinse-Gesticulantes,  160. 


200 


INDEX  TO  NOTES 


Macready,  186. 

Magdalene  College,  147. 

Malbranche,  157. 

Mamelukes,  167. 

Marcia,  186. 

Marli,  182. 

Martial,  170. 

Marvel,  153. 

Mary  Wortley  Montague,  174, 191. 

Massillon,  184. 

Memoirs  of  a  Shilling,  181. 

Menander,  178. 

Mephistopheles,  179. 

Metam(wphoses,  148. 

Mohawks,  183. 

Mont  Cenis,  165. 

Montague,  Charles,  152. 

Musewm,  164. 

Nabob,  183. 
Ned  Softly,  181. 
Nell  Gvvynn,  192. 
Nemesis,  174. 
Newdigate  prize,  153. 
Newmarket,  167. 
Newton,  157. 

October  Club,  The,  152. 
Oldham,  153. 
Old  Whig,  193. 
Opera  of  Rosamond,  170^ 
Order  of  the  Garter,  170. 

Paestum,  163. 
Palmerston,  Lord,  189. 
Pantheon,  162. 


Papist,  A,  147. 
Parnell,  Thomas,  145. 
Peace  of  Ryswick,  156. 
Pentheus,  148. 
Pere  Fraguier,  160. 
Peripetia,  188. 
Peter  Teazle,  Sir,  192. 
Petrarch,  169. 
Philip  v.,  163. 
Pindar,  149. 
Plebeian,  The,  193. 
Plutarch,  149. 
Political  Upholsterer,  181. 
Pollio,  159. 
Polybius,  148. 
Posilipo,  163. 
President,  A,  147. 
Prior,  Matthew,  144, 156. 
Prince  Eugene,  164. 
Prudentius,  148. 
Puck,  180. 
Pulteney,  173. 

Queen's  College,  146. 

Racine,  156. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  144. 
Rasselas,  155. 
Reader,  The,  190. 
Rebellion,  The,  190. 
Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,  158. 
Richardson,  183. 
Robert  Peel,  Sir,  189. 
Robertson,  159. 
Rochester,  153, 


INDEX  TO  NOTES 


201 


Rusicrucians,  190. 
Rowe,  170. 
Rutuliaus,  The,  169. 

Sacheverell,  171. 

St.  James',  152. 

St.  James  Palace,  182. 

St.  John,  174. 

St.  Peter's,  162. 

Salvator  Rosa,  1G3. 

San  Marino,  162. 

Santa  Croce,  170. 

Satirist,  191. 

Saul,  187. 

Schiller,  187. 

Seatonian  Prize,  153. 

Sempronius,  186. 

Seymour,  Charles,  155. 

Sidonius  Apollinarius,  169. 

Similitude  of  the  Angel,  167. 

Sir  Gibby,  186. 

Smalridge,  181. 

Smollett,  183. 

Soame  Jenyns,  180. 

Softly,  Mr,",  175. 

Somers,  15.^,  166. 

Spectator,  160,  183. 

Spectre  Huntsman,  170. 

Splendid  Shilling,  The,  168, 

Sporus,  188. 

Spunging  House,  176. 

States-General,  161. 

Statius.  148. 

Steele,  174. 

Steenkirks,  144. 


Stella,  174. 
Stepney,  154. 
Sunderland,  166,  189. 

Talbot,  155,  172. 
Tale  of  a  Tub,  189. 
Tales  of  Scheherazade,  183. 
Tallard,  168, 
Tangier,  146. 
Tasso,  154,  162,  169. 
Tatler,  The,  177,  181. 
Tax  on  Newspapers,  184. 
Temple,  177, 
Terence,  174. 
Theobald's,  144, 
Theocritus,  148, 
Thermometer  of  Zeal,  181. 
Thomas  Tickell,  176. 
Thrale,  Mrs.,  158. 
Thundering  Legion,  150. 
Ticin,  169. 
Tillotson,  146,  180. 
Toast,  A,  156. 
Tom  Folio,  181. 
Tomb  of  Misenus,  164. 
Torj'  Fox-hunter,  163. 
Town  Talk,  190. 


Vatican,  164. 
Versailles,  182. 
Vico,  163, 

Victor  Amadeus,  165. 
Vincenzio  Filicaja,  170, 
Voltaire,  179, 


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Stevenson's  Treasure  Island.     Edited  by  H.  A.  Vance. 

Tennyson's  The  Princess.     Edited  by  WILSON  Farrand. 

Tennyson's  Idylls  of  the  King.     Edited  by  W.  T.  Vlymen. 

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